Another South African telecom firm waves goodbye to the Kenyan market

South African fixed-line telecom operator, Telkom SA, last month made a dramatic retreat from the East African market, selling loss-making units iWayAfrica and Africa Online to Gondwana International Networks. Telkom SA’s sale highlights the competitive and difficult environment facing many telecom companies and Internet service providers as new technologies and better-funded competitors dominate the market and influence the pricing of products and services. Analysts expect the sale to set up the telecom market across Africa for mergers and acquisitions to consolidate market share. It also brings to the fore how a number of South African companies are struggling to penetrate the East African market. The financial details of the Telkom SA transaction were not disclosed, but the operator termed the companies an “immaterial part of the group”. “This transaction is one of many initiatives that will contribute to our own turnaround, allowing us to focus on our core South African fixed-line and mobile operations,” said Telkom SA CEO Sipho Maseko. 


source: www.standardmedia.co

telkom to return legacy spectrum to ICASA

Telkom South Africa has confirmed that will return spectrum to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), as it migrates its legacy services to next generation technologies. Previously, in April this year the state-owned enterprise Sentech said it would return its 2600MHz and 3500MHz frequencies to the regulator as demand for spectrum escalates. BusinessTech.co.za quotes a Telkom representative as saying: ‘Telkom is continuously assessing the viability of legacy technologies which have reached their estimated useful life. In the case of wireless technologies, decisions in regard to the future use/or disposition of the frequency bands which they utilise is part of this process’.

The telco noted that it is currently licensed to use the 2400MHz band to provide fixed wireless access (FWA) services, chiefly in rural areas, and commented: ‘Whereas Telkom has identified these technologies for migration, such migration is complex due to, amongst others, lack of suitable sub-1GHz spectrum to be used in the rural areas. A portion of the 2400Mz band has been re-farmed for Telkom’s 2300MHz LTE network. Some parts of the 2400MHz band could eventually be returned to ICASA once migration has been completed’. Telkom added that migrating WiMAX from the 3500MHz band was a business decision, ‘and these services will be replaced with 3G/LTE or satellite’. Meanwhile, the telco stressed that it will not return spectrum in 1800MHz band.

source: www.telegeography.com

Telkom to release spectrum

Telkom has confirmed that will return spectrum to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, Icasa, as it migrates its legacy services to next generation technologies.

South Africa is currently embroiled in a escalating battle for spectrum, as dominant and minor operators claw at Icasa for a piece of the frequency pie – as demand for data and expanding networks push currently-help spectrum capabilities to their limits.

In April, state-owned enterprise Sentech said it would return its 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum to the regulator for the South African communications sector.

Sentech CEO, Setumo Mohapi, said that fact that the cost of spectrum had grown tenfold was a big consideration in returning the spectrum to Icasa. The telco noted that it is licensed to use the 2.4 GHz band (i.e. 2.3-2.5 GHz) and is using this band to provide FWA services, in particular in rural areas.

“Whereas Telkom has identified these technologies for migration (due also to the negative effect of harmful interference in the ISM band (i.e. 2.4-2.5 GHz)), such migration is complex due to, amongst others, lack of suitable sub-1 GHz spectrum to be used in the rural areas.”

source: www.bussinesstech.co