Telkom on Tuesday reported a nearly two-thirds leap in full-year earnings and resumed dividend payments for the first time in four years. It also declared a special dividend on the back of the sale of its mast and towers business Swiftnet.
According to Lunga Siyo, CEO of Telkom’s consumer business, the turnaround at the partly state-owned telecommunications operator is the result of a focused strategy, including a “smart capex” spending plan designed to ensure it can meet consumer demand without the deep capital investments of its bigger rivals in mobile, Vodacom and MTN.
TechCentral sat down with Siyo at the JSE on Tuesday to unpack the numbers and talk about the company’s strategic plans in everything from data centres to 5G.
Among other topics, Siyo unpacks:
- Whether Telkom is considering further asset sales or the sale of strategic equity stakes in any of its subsidiaries;
- Why Telkom is growing as strongly as it is in mobile, particularly in the prepaid market, and who it’s taking market share from;
- What Telkom will be able to do with its greatly improved balance sheet – it has more than R10-billion in cash at the end of the reporting period in March;
- The company’s plans in the data centre market;
- The threat – and opportunity – presented by low-Earth-orbit satellite providers like Starlink.
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