Subscribe

Telkom Mobile trims loss

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 14 Jun 2013

Telkom's mobile arm turned over R1.4 billion in the year to March and trimmed its operational loss from R2.2 billion last year to R1.7 billion.

The mobile arm, which has been rebranded into a unit that serves consumers and one for the business segment, currently has 1.5 million revenue-generating customers.

In March, Telkom announced the launch of Telkom Mobile, amid a restructuring process, efforts to get the company back on track financially, and a shake-up of its mobile arm 8ta in terms of marketing audience.

Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko says its mobile arm is vital to its convergence strategy, but the company has to look at how it will sort out the financial aspects. He says the mobile space is challenging, but the team is doing the "best" it can.

Maseko, who has been in the position for about 90 days, says Telkom needs to redefine its mobile strategy, but believes it is probably best placed to offer an integrated solution. Telkom has defined data as a key growth area, and it will fit mobile into this.

In the year to March, mobile data revenue increased 123.3% due to an increase in the number of data subscribers, and the data deals and promotional products launched during the year in line with the operator's strategy to focus on data.

Telkom Mobile's share of all mobile operators' year-on-year data revenue growth was 8.6%, says Telkom.

Vestact CEO Paul Theron says the mobile arm is behind its initial expectations, both in terms of average revenue per user and subscribers.

Share