Telkom convergence will take time

Although Telkom recently took a significant step towards achieving “true fixed-mobile convergence” (FMC), with the introduction of business bundles, realisation of wholly unified solutions still lies in the distance.

This is according to Dr Brian Armstrong, MD of Telkom Business, who spearheaded the operator's bundled solutions for its business customers. The company unveiled three packages combining fixed and mobile solutions with unified billing just over two months ago, a step towards what Armstrong says is a journey - not an overnight solution - to convergence of its services.

The bundled products, which essentially offer billing integration (as opposed to backend integration) were met with some questions as to their worth. However, Armstrong says the solution is relevant and in demand among businesses that value simplicity and want the “hassle factor” removed from the equation. “Yes, these products boil down to commercial bundling, which may sound 'so what?', but it is important to customers. And it is a process - within the next year we will introduce bundles with a higher degree of integration.”

Armstrong says Telkom Business' journey to convergence includes the longer term goals of backend integration and presence management. “We will get to the point where a customer will have one number, which facilitates all communication, regardless of the source.” He says, while the fast pace of technology and changing customer demand makes it difficult to put an exact time frame around this end goal, it is likely to be a two- to three-year process.

Armstrong says while the interest that the bundled solutions have seen was anticipated and is welcome, Telkom Business is “partly struggling to fulfil demand”, due to disparate focus. “Sometimes when you introduce something new to the market, you focus mainly on the product and the backend systems don't get enough focus.”

This is an area the operator's business unit is currently working on. Armstrong says the business arm's short-term goal is to increase the number of outlets from which the product is available. “We are looking into making the products more universally available and enabling the channels for the immediate term.”

In June, when Telkom outlined its FMC progress, CEO Nombulelo Moholi said the company's strategy entailed a gradual process and that it would “ultimately” end in seamless unified communication (UC).

Telkom says it has mapped out an “aggressive roadmap” toward offering full FMC and UC.

Telkom introduces business bundles