Altech Autopage, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Altron, sees an upside in being the only independent third-party in the cellular space.
This comes after Nashua Mobile said it would sell its MTN and Vodacom subscriber bases before eventually shutting down.
Altron CEO Robert Venter says Autopage sees upside in being the only independent service provider left in the market. He says it can now "offer the customer choice, differentiate ourselves from the networks and provide a unique offering to enterprises".
However, Venter notes there is no doubt the market is changing quickly. "That is why we started evolving Altech Autopage about a year ago from being a pure GSM business to being a converged offering business."
Venter says, through Altech's integration with Bytes, Autopage can now offer end-to-end communications. This would include, for example, voice, data, voice over IP and mobile offerings, he says. "We are also uniquely positioned to integrate voice, data and multimedia."
Last year, Altron bought out Altech's minority shareholders, in a R1.8 billion move, which resulted in the creation of Altron TMT. The move has opened up cross-selling opportunities and aided Altron to boost revenue 12%, to R27.8 billion, a record number, in the year to March.
Autopage's revenue dropped 9%, to R5.5 billion, during the year, but its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation gained 3%. Altron does not expect this performance to continue, given margin pressure in the channel.
Average revenue per user continued to decline, though at a slower rate, it says, while churn is "being maintained at better than industry-acceptable levels". The company has around a million subscribers.
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