
Is Telkom dying?
According to a recent MyBroadband article, Telkom is rapidly losing ADSL and fixed-line subscribers across South Africa.
The company once had aspirations to be the leading fixed-broadband provider in the country, but current figures show this is not the case:
- Telkom’s fixed-line subscribers stand at 2 267 000, the lowest since 1994
- Telkom’s ADSL, VDSL, and fibre subscribers declined from 981 176 to 847 650 in the last year
- There has been a 13.6% decline in fixed-broadband subscribers
- Independent fibre network operators (FNOs) are rolling out fibre networks faster than Telkom can
- Companies like Vumatel offer a wide range of pricing – from free for a 4Mbps line to R1,299 for a 1Gbps connection
- Vumatel’s partnership model rapidly gained momentum in South Africa, putting Telkom on the back foot
- The rush to get fibre rolled out across SA lead to a land-grab and pricing cuts, leaving Telkom on the sidelines
- Telkom is too big and too slow to respond quickly
- Today Telkom’s fibre-to-the-home market share is below 40%
- Telkom has significantly cut its fibre-to-the-home investment over the last year, decreasing the capital expenditure in its fibre network from R2.112 billion in its 2017/2018 financial year, to R1.216 billion in its 2018/2019 financial year