Nine in 10 bosses of telecommunications companies in South Africa are confident about their firms’ ability to grow revenues over the next three years, despite growing competitive pressures.
This is a key finding of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC’s) 17th annual global CEO survey, which was released this month.
Collaboration is top of mind for CEOs in the sector, with more than half of those surveyed indicating that they are looking into strategic alliances and joint ventures.
PwC South Africa communications leader Johan van Huyssteen says CEOs believe 30% of growth will come from increased market share in existing markets, while a further 30% will come from new territories. CEOs in South Africa expect 24% growth from product and service innovation.
The survey compared the outlook of global and South African CEOs in comparison to CEOs in other industries. According to Van Huyssteen, Africa is still considered one of the world’s most dynamic telecoms markets and is also one of the most innovative. “Many international telecoms firms are looking for opportunities in Africa that will provide new revenue streams.”
The survey also highlighted some concerns that South African CEOs share with their global counterparts. Factors such as too much regulation, the slowdown in high-growth markets and exchange rate volatility are barriers to business growth, according to the PwC survey.
There are also other concerns looming for CEOs, such as political and economic threats. “What are of particular concern for CEOs in the telecoms industry are cyber threats, including security breaches, as well as the speed at which technology changes,” says van Huyssteen.
Another finding of interest in the report is that the planning time horizon for CEOs in the telecoms industry has shortened. More than half (56%) of respondents said that they have shifted from five years to three years in planning as the industry is changing too quickly to predict anything further out than that with any sort of certainty.
Interestingly, South African telecoms CEOs expressed more concern than their global counterparts about a lack of key skills in the workplace.
Data for the PwC report was gathered by surveying 1 344 business leaders in 68 countries in the last quarter of 2013. For this report, PwC also interviewed 39 telecoms CEOs in 25 countries, while 105 South African CEOs participated. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
