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.
Exclusive | Vodacom and Liquid Telecom have signed an agreement which will, in effect, give the country’s biggest mobile operator access to a key spectrum band, allowing it to deploy 5G services nationally.
MTN South Africa will have a second go at a mobile money offering in South Africa when a redesigned platform goes live to the public next month after more than a year of development.
MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter on Thursday voiced his disappointment in the Competition Commission’s report on the data services market in South Africa, arguing it was poorly framed and failed to acknowledge the successes of the industry.
Batteries that don’t have time to recover fully and criminals taking advantage of power cuts are two of the factors making life difficult for South Africa’s mobile networks as rolling blackouts continue into a sixth day.
The Competition Commission says data must fall; Vodacom and MTN say they need more spectrum. Ten years after communications regulator Icasa tried to license new spectrum, it still hasn’t happened.
MTN Group on Wednesday issued a statement to investors in which it criticised the Competition Commission’s final report on the data services market in South Africa, saying it will “vigorously defend against over-broad and intrusive recommendations” by the commission.
After a massive selloff on Monday, shares of South Africa’s biggest listed telecommunications companies continued to trade lower into Tuesday.
