Two years since the acquisition of Orion Telecom by then-DataPro - at the time much smaller than the company it was acquiring - the rebranded Vox Telecom Group's executives agree the acquisition has given a massive boost to the group's mission to be South Africa's leading alternative telecommunications company.
Vox Telecom Group chairman Tony van Marken says the acquisition has, with hindsight, been a winning move. “Our original intention was to create a group with balanced strength in both voice and data, that would be able to achieve much greater scale and market share than any of the original companies. That goal has definitely been achieved.”
The group's annual revenue has skyrocketed over the past three years, from R196 million per annum for the original DataPro Group in 2006, to R1.85 billion for the combined group in 2008.
Van Marken says Vox Orion's excellent customer base - it serves most of the top 200 companies on the JSE as well as major government departments and provincial governments - has provided new opportunities for the rest of the group, including data specialists Vox Datapro and corporate fax solutions provider Vox Amvia.
For the newly rebranded Vox Orion, MD Jacques du Toit says the acquisition has secured the company's long-term viability. “It was clear at the time that the market was converging rapidly and that our success depended on us getting into the data market,” says Vox Orion MD Jacques du Toit. “At the same time, for Datapro it was about establishing a stronger position in the voice market. A company that isn't strong in both voice and data will be hard-pressed to be a credible player in the local telecommunications market.
“The acquisition means we've been able to enter a whole new market,” says du Toit. “Three years ago we were very much just a provider of cellular least-cost routing services; today we're able to offer much more holistic management of a company's entire telecommunications service, from traditional voice through data to fax and SMS messaging. Without this expanded offering we could have been staring down a dead end.”
Du Toit says customers who get all their telecommunications services from a single source are able to benefit from cross-subsidies: “Convergence definitely means a better deal for our customers. We're not only able to provide services more efficiently, we can also use our strong relationships with the major fixed-line and cellular network providers to ensure their traffic is always managed and routed optimally.”
Despite its rapid growth, Van Marken says the Vox Telecom group has maintained its flexibility and responsiveness to customer needs. “The market has been dominated by well-funded incumbents who have been given some form of monopolistic or regulatory advantage and customers have not always received good value. We have experienced rapid growth, but are very aware of the need to deliver a compelling value proposition, provide excellent customer service and be accessible to our customers. In this difficult economic climate we can differentiate ourselves by helping our customers to manage their telecommunications cost structure more effectively. The market needs choice and Vox Telecom can be the leading alternative supplier of telecommunications products to corporates and consumers alike.”
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