After repeated delays, communications minister Dina Pule says the options for Telkom’s future are being finalised in consultation with the telecommunications operator’s board. Pule put options to cabinet last year but these were returned following recent board changes that saw Jabu Mabuza appointed as chairman.
The telecoms industry is eagerly awaiting cabinet’s decision on Pule’s suggestions. In September 2012, the minister claimed that a decision about Telkom’s future was imminent but the details, expected in October, failed to materialise.
Government holds a direct 39,8% stake in Telkom.
It’s been widely speculated that one option on the table is Telkom’s nationalisation and delisting from the JSE so that the company can be used as the vehicle for building a national broadband network. Analysts have said this is unlikely, especially in light of tight fiscal rein national treasury needs to keep on government spending given the poor economy.
Another option would involve splitting Telkom into retail and wholesale arms whereby the former would purchase services — along with other operators and service providers — from the latter.
Pule’s office said on Tuesday that the proposed options have to take into consideration the launch of the strategic integrated plan (Sip) 15 — which happened in December — because it deals with, among other things, broadening access to information and communications technologies.
Sip 15 forms part of the presidential infrastructure coordinating commission.
“After the recent meeting with the Telkom board, I’m convinced that we will be able to resubmit the options for cabinet’s consideration within March 2013,” Pule says in a statement. She says she has met with Telkom’s board for the second time since its annual general meeting last year.
“I am excited by the board’s commitment and passion in addressing the challenges and opportunities facing Telkom,” the minister says.
Pule’s meeting with Telkom last November followed comments by Mabuza that it was not up to government to devise a strategy for Telkom or for it to impose its will on the company. Rather, he said, it was up to management, through the board, to develop a strategy and sell that to all shareholders, including government. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
