As Telkom's voice revenue continues to plummet, the fixed-line operator will prioritise bundled fixed and mobile offerings for future revenue growth, reiterating 8ta's role in the company's evolution.
Telkom yesterday released its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2010, reporting voice revenue was down 19.1%, to R6.9 billion, during the period.
Local voice revenue declined 10.8%, to R1.5 billion; long-distance voice revenue was down by 12.4%, to R809 million; fixed-to-mobile revenue was down 24%, to R2.5 billion; and international outgoing revenue declined 19.9%, to R378 million.
While these results may paint a bleak outlook for the future of voice revenue for the company, Telkom explains its poor voice results were offset by good growth of its data revenue. Telkom's data revenue increased 14.9%, to R5.6 billion.
Speaking at yesterday's results presentation, acting Telkom CEO Jeffery Hedberg said Telkom is at an inflection point with growth in traditional fixed-line voice revenue declining.
“We believe there is a market opportunity in SA, as mobile voice and especially mobile data are still experiencing growth.”
Telkom has a competitive advantage by virtue of its existing business and customer base, he noted. This is particularly so as wireless voice growth slows and converged data becomes more prevalent.
A product range spanning both mobile and fixed value pools will assist Telkom to defend itself more effectively against competitors and to grow revenue, explained Hedberg.
Hedberg outlined how the development of the mobile arm of Telkom, 8ta, would assist in achieving this.
He argued that although he was confident 8ta has the potential to succeed with a mobile “pure-play” offering, the new mobile operator's value lies in its ability to offer truly converged telecoms offerings.
Hedberg noted that 8ta will unveil a full suite of converged products in 2011, which he believes will be particularly appealing to the corporate consumer.
The mobile business is designed to also assist Telkom in addressing fixed-line cost challenges and to position Telkom more competitively in the market, explains the company.
Telkom adds that it also plans to use mobile technology to offer fixed-line services in areas where it is experiencing operational challenges such as copper theft, breakages, and slow copper roll-out to greenfield areas.
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