Telkom will pay US$80m (R604m) to settle its nine-year long legal wrangle with Telcordia Technologies. In 1999, Telcordia signed a contract with Telkom to supply a customer-care solution to SA’s fixed-line business. Telkom terminated the contract two years later, saying the US-based business was in breach of contract by not providing the product to the agreed specifications.
Reuben September’s decision to step down early as CEO of Telkom wasn’t unexpected. All eyes are now on the board, which must appoint his successor. Will it make the right choice? Or will the decision be political? It was probably inevitable that September didn’t stick around at Telkom until his con- tract ended in November. When the board elected not to renew his contract, the long- serving Telkom executive took it badly, say company insiders.
The surprise resignation of Telkom chief financial officer Peter Nelson could point to deeper problems at the telecommunications group, say analysts. Birgitta Cederstrom Nicholson, technology research head at Frost & Sullivan, says Nelson’s resignation and the early exit of the company’s CEO, Reuben September, is reason for concern.
Telkom’s chief financial officer, Peter Nelson, appears to have quit his job in part because of frustrations with the way the telecommunications group is being led by its board of directors. Telkom surprised the markets on Tuesday afternoon when it announced that Nelson had tendered his resignation just days after CEO Reuben September left the group.
In a shock development, Telkom chief financial officer Peter Nelson has resigned from the telecommunications group. The move comes less than a week after the departure of group CEO Reuben September. In a short statement issued to the JSE’s Sens news service on Tuesday afternoon, Telkom says Nelson has informed the board of his resignation as director and chief financial officer with effect from 9 October 2010.
Vincent Raseroka has been appointed as acting CEO of Multi-Links, Telkom’s deeply troubled operation in Nigeria. Raseroka will hold the post while the telecommunications group searches for someone to replace Jeffrey Hedberg, who has been appointed as Telkom CEO, replacing Reuben September. Raseroka, who had been Multi-Links’s chief operating officer, takes over with immediate effect. He was previously CEO of SAA technical and held various executive positions at packaging business Nampak.
Former Cell C CEO, American national Jeffrey Hedberg, has been appointed to lead Telkom as group CEO in an acting capacity following a decision by Reuben September to end his contract early. September, who has been expected to leave Telkom in November, has elected to leave now. Senior sources at Telkom say developments in recent weeks, in which the board decided not to renew his contract, have taken a toll on September’s health.
Did you know SA is supposed to have a telecommunications museum? Few people do. But according to chapter 13 of the Electronic Communications Act, the department of communications must create and manage a museum that showcases the evolution of the history of communications technology in SA.
Seacom has secured alternative capacity options for its customers, but Internet service providers will be charged a “small premium” to use them. A fault on the Seacom cable between Mumbai in India and Mombasa in Kenya cut off many Internet users on Monday, with repairs expected to take a week or more.
SA will soon be awash in cheap international bandwidth. The challenge is getting that bandwidth into the hands of consumers and companies. So, news this week of the launch of a new fibre operator is encouraging. Eassy. Wacs. Ace. Main One. These are the names of new cable systems that are either in the works or already under construction. Together with the Seacom cable in the east and the Sat-3 system in the west, they promise a flood of cheap international bandwidth.
