Recent events are evidence of unprecedented pressure on mobile network operators to lower their prices. Yet a sober analysis reveals that the networks are really their own worst enemies, and can turn their fortunes around by simply lowering prices. The latest proposed cuts in the mobile termination (interconnection) rates are the most
Browsing: Vodacom
Vodacom intends tabling an offer of US$460m (about R5bn) to buy Neotel, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The newspaper, quoting an unnamed executive at India’s Tata Communications, Neotel’s holding company, said that Vodacom, which is a subsidiary of the UK’s Vodafone, will also take on Neotel’s
A lack of regulation in the mobile network market would likely harm consumers, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday. Kate Hoffmeyer, for Cell C, argued that if MTN and Vodacom were granted interim relief through the court suspending Icasa’s 2014 regulations, this would result in the market being
MTN and Vodacom should have disclosed their costs for calls to other networks, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday. David Unterhalter SC, for communications regulator Icasa, argued that the companies would not reveal these costs to Icasa when
New call rates between cellphone networks aimed at stimulating competition resulted from a “half-baked experiment”, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Tuesday. Frank Snyckers SC, for Vodacom, argued that communications regulator Icasa’s 2014 regulations for call rates, set to be introduced next month, should have taken into account the structural
Cellphone network operators MTN and Vodacom took their fight against the introduction of new call termination rates to the high court in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has conceded there are problems with its proposed model for mobile termination rates. These are the
On the eve of an historic court battle between Icasa and mobile operators MTN and Vodacom, the communications regulator has revealed in papers filed at the high court in Johannesburg that it intends reconsidering its proposed cuts to call termination rates. In an answering affidavit submitted to the high court, Icasa says it has
It is no exaggeration to claim that the coming week will be make or break for affordable mobile communications in South Africa – quite possibly for the next 20 years. On 1 April 1994, Vodacom and MTN launched a service in South Africa, a launch brought forward to support the Independent Electoral Commission in managing the first
Vodacom intends expanding the size of its network in Gauteng dramatically in the next financial year, with plans to add 555 4G/LTE towers in the province by the end of March 2015. The expansion, which also includes the deployment of new 2G and 3G sites, forms part of
The mobile operators are fighting the wrong war, and they’re squaring up to the wrong enemy. They should be fundamentally revising their business models to prepare for Google, Facebook and Microsoft, which are taking aim directly at their voice business. Let us take a step back. For well over a decade, South