With a fixed-line business under pressure, an IT services company feeling the pinch and a mobile business facing strong competition, Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko has a difficult road ahead of him. By Duncan McLeod.
Browsing: Cell C
New independent research shows that MTN has South Africa’s best mobile network and beats its rivals in every category, from consistent quality to download and upload speeds.
Vodacom is in talks with Cell C about taking on the smaller rival’s contract-paying mobile phone customers, a move that would strengthen its position as South Africa’s telecommunications market leader, sources said.
Shares in Telkom have rocketed more than 21% since reaching a multi-year low in intraday trading last Thursday, signalling that investors believe the sell-off was overdone.
Telkom fell through R30/share on Thursday as the six-month-long slide in its share price – which has now wiped out more than 70% of its market value – continues.
Telkom Group CEO Sipho Maseko has slammed the Competition Commission for intervening directly in prices in the data services market, warning using this “blunt and archaic” tool is an “ineffective instrument that may ultimately have unintended and deleterious consequences”.
The Competition Commission’s final report on the data services market in South Africa is, frankly, an embarrassment. It amounts to regulatory overreach and dangerous populism that could threaten billions of rand in planned investments in the coming years. By Duncan McLeod.
After a massive selloff on Monday, shares of South Africa’s biggest listed telecommunications companies continued to trade lower into Tuesday.
Vodacom and MTN must drop mobile data prices significantly, failing which the Competition Commission will consider prosecuting the two companies.
Cell C’s creditors aren’t giving up on a takeover offer from rival Telkom, which South Africa’s third largest mobile network operator rejected last week.