South African Retail Motor Industry body, RMI has joined forces with JSE-listed TeleMasters to lead up to what will be SA's first industry-specific telecommunications company.
RMI represents around 7 500 motor industry members, including car rental firms, vehicle dealerships, spares and repair companies, and service stations.
The organisation has signed an agreement with TeleMasters to work towards the formation of a fully-fledged and licensed telecommunications company solely for RMI's members.
Telemoto's licence will be held by TeleMasters, which will be the operational arm of the new venture, until such time that a certain amount of traffic is terminated, after which a separate platform plus licensing will be done within Telemoto.
Riaan Pietersen, head of enterprise division at TeleMasters, said 51% of the joint venture will be owned by RMI and 49% by TeleMasters.
He says the telco will offer discounted rates and free on-net VOIP calls to subscribers, as well as enhanced data and future-proof virtual PBX systems.
Pietersen also notes that, in line with the agreement, TeleMasters will now start signing up RMI's member base as TeleMasters customers.
As a full-service licensed telecommunications company, he adds, TeleMasters is in a position to quickly roll out a new telco built on the necessary infrastructure. He believes the new model will work for several large industry sectors. "TeleMasters has been working on the idea for some time now, and RMI was the first to take up the opportunity."
According to Pietersen, the benefits to RMI members will include saving on voice and data costs, as well as access to advanced communications technologies such as the virtual PBX. This alone, he says, will deliver tremendous capital and monthly savings plus allow for simpler, more cost-effective maintenance and upgrades.
"With around 7 500 members within the RMI, we envisage a very large chunk of these companies to join Telemoto due to its exceptional rates, the current experience of TeleMasters within the field, as well as specialised products to enhance productivity within the organisations."
Many of RMI's members are SMEs, Pietersen notes, and they are therefore price sensitive. "With their own telco, which has their interests at heart and which can pass on benefits of scale, members can expect to see savings of 25% to 35% on their communications costs. They will be able to talk to other members on the network for free, and will also enjoy improved data services."
Pietersen also notes that while the immediate call savings may be a draw card, in the long term, call costs will drop across the board and the real benefit to members will be the improved quality on voice and speed of data services.
Another benefit, he adds, would be that, once members become part of Telemoto, all inter-company calls will be on net and free of charge.
"With the virtual PBX, our aim is to cut ongoing TDM [time-division multiplexing] and legacy-based PBX capital costs and maintenance costs. Due to the wide range of functionality to be offered, this will definitely add value to members."
Pietersen states that another aspect they will focus on is the delivery of uncapped and uncontended data to all members.
"Telemoto will deliver data over point-to-point mediums such as Diginet, which will improve the experience of all members tremendously. We foresee a time when other large industry sectors look to similarly owning their own telcos, allowing all players in their sector to benefit from preferential call rates and improved data quality."
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