Subscribe

Naspers points a finger at Telkom

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Cape Town, 29 Jun 2004

Media conglomerate Naspers has blamed the ongoing Telkom monopoly and the impasse of legislation for stalling the growth of its M-Web Internet business at 242 000 subscribers.

Naspers made the statement today, in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2004.

M-Web is regarded as the largest consumer Internet operation in the country. Along with Telkom`s own service, Tiscali and Absa`s service, it accounts for just over half of the 1.1 million Internet subscribers in the country.

"Dial-up costs and overseas calls are more expensive here than in comparable markets. Broadband services are still at negligible levels. Regulation seems unable to break the impasse, and SA is falling behind its peers in Internet innovation," Naspers says in an unusually blunt statement.

Mature TV market

The stalling Internet subscriber base was only one of several Naspers`s woes. It has also seen very marginal growth in its pay TV services, which include satellite TV.

Revenue from Naspers`s Internet operations grew by 15% to R1.047 billion for the year ended 31 March, and the earnings before income tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved to R161 million from a previous loss of R96 million.

However, Naspers says M-Web is doing well out of Africa, especially in Asia. The group is the leading online media company in Thailand, offering a broad range of Internet services and the latest version of its instant messaging service, QQ.

More than ten cents

Tencents, Naspers` Chinese joint venture was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June.

Naspers says Tencents` contribution to overall group revenues was a robust R457 million, and operating profit before amortisation and impairment was R220 million.

Technology remains a key strategic focus for the group as it has to ensure the security of the encryption

Elaborating on Tencents and QQ, Naspers says registered subscriptions for the fee-based Internet value-added services ended the year on 7.3 million. In addition, the mobile and telecommunications value-added services reached 12.7 million registered subscriptions.

Technology remains a key strategic focus for the group as it has to ensure the security of its pay-television subscriber base. Due to the ongoing investment in encryption technology, the technology segment of the group reported a R23 million loss.

Naspers`s operating profit was R1.289 billion last year and core headline earnings rose to R534 million compared with a previous loss of R100 million.

Share