Telkom separates wholesale, retail

By Paul Vecchiatto for Telkom
Cape Town, 14 Mar 2007

Telkom is on the verge of announcing it will separate its wholesale and retail divisions to lessen the conflict of interest between the operations, says outgoing CTO Thami Msimango.

Msimango, the second high-profile Telkom resignation within a week, following that of chief sales and marketing officer Wally Beelders, says the decision to separate the divisions was made some time ago.

"Last year, we had meetings with several of our key customers, in which the ICASA chairman [Paris Mashile] was present when we informed them of the plans. It is now up to our CEO [Papi Molotsane] and the board to announce exactly when this would happen," he says.

It has been speculated that Telkom would follow the practices of some of its international peers, such as British Telecom, in separating its wholesale and retail operations. This idea was also mooted in a market study compiled by US consultancy The Yankee Group on behalf of the Department of Communications five years ago. That study formed the basis of the liberalisation announcement of September 2004.

"We have known for a while that we have to lessen the conflict of interests between wholesale and retail in order to ensure our customers are treated properly," Msimango says.

Crime factor

Msimango says his decision to resign was not due to a push factor - a similar comment to Beelders - but that he began thinking about his future after he was robbed at home in January.

"I decided I had to start thinking about my own future and that of my family. I suppose it may seem a selfish reason, but I feel I had to do it," he says.

Msimango joined Telkom at the age of 17, in 1984, and steadily rose through the ranks following his in-house training at the group.

"Telkom has been very good to me and always presented me with challenges and opportunities, even when it was not fashionable to do so," he says.

"I decided to leave now while the company is on the up and I know I leave it in very capable hands."

Msimango says he has not taken a definite decision on his future, but believes he will find a position in the ICT sector.

He is on leave that he has planned for some time in order to travel to the US to attend a friend's wedding.