Despite the merger of Marconi Communications SA and Ericsson two years ago, communication about the joint business remains unclear, leaving many confused as to the fate of the Marconi brand.
While it was announced in 2006 that Ericsson purchased a 75% stake in Marconi SA and absorbed all its local operations - some clients still search for the company, but with no luck.
Goran Soderholm, Ericsson VP of marketing and communication, states the acquired divisions and operations have moved to Ericsson. “Marconi has ceased to be in SA.”
He adds that it has been a gradual process of acquiring Marconi SA's telecommunications equipment and services, and housing its staff at Ericsson's offices - and says there is no confusion about the process.
However, there is a lack of information to clients about this acquisition.
ITWeb received a tip-off that Marconi cannot be reached on the contact details listed on its Web site and that it may have gone out of business. Similar queries from frustrated customers were also found on the Internet, dating back to April 2008.
In April, reports surfaced on the Internet that various attempts to get in touch with Marconi were unsuccessful. Phones were not answered and messages were never returned, while Web queries and complaints which were filed also received no attention.
More than two years after the acquisition of the Marconi name and operations, the Web site -marconisa.co.za - continues to be live. No notice about the change of details has been posted on the Web site and users are not redirected to the Ericsson site.
Timeline of events
In 2005, Marconi agreed to sell the majority of its assets and its name to Ericsson in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion. According to the terms of the deal, Ericsson would acquire Marconi's telecoms equipment business and leave the UK firm with only its services business - which would be renamed Telent.
In January 2006, Ericsson completed its acquisition of parts of Marconi's telecoms business and set its sights on acquiring its regional operations.
In February 2006, Ericsson announced the purchase of a 74.99% stake in Marconi Communications SA, while BEE company African Renaissance Holdings purchased the remaining 25.01% stake.
In March 2006, Ericsson's market unit sub-Saharan Africa (MUSA) announced it had completed the acquisition of Marconi's SA operations. Despite previous international reports that 1 000 job losses internationally were “unavoidable” with the acquisition, Marconi SA staff retained their positions at Ericsson.
Marconi SA MD Richard Bicker-Caarten was then appointed vice-president responsible for the Telkom account within MUSA in February 2006.
International trouble
In the 1990s, the company, which was known as GEC, sold off its defence assets and changed its name to Marconi in an attempt to become a major player in the international telecoms market.
As part of this move, it borrowed heavily to fund its acquisitions spree, and was left with estimated debt of $4 billion and overvalued assets in 2003.
In 2005, following a restructuring deal, Marconi ran deeper into trouble. This time it was not listed for a £10 billion British Telecoms network upgrade contract. Marconi warned it would lose out on £50 million and began implementing strategic changes to cushion its loss.
Marconi eventually signed a deal with Ericsson, which would see the injection of £185 million into the Marconi employee benefit plan and a further £490 million into an escrow account for the plan, among other investments.
Local trouble
In March 2007, the High Court ruled in favour of TIS, finding Telkom and Marconi guilty of copyright infringement.
TIS had an agreement in place with Marconi that allowed the telecoms company to supply a telephone management system, Man3000, to Telkom, which then supplied it to end-users. The agreement ended in March 2005 and was not renewed.
The system, sold under the name Teltrace Soho System, has a software interface component and a hardware component - known as a buffer box - that interfaces with a company's PABX system to collect data.
TIS claimed parts of the software had been rewritten and a rebranded update was available for download on Telkom's Web site. In January 2009, TIS once again took the two companies to court - claiming R35m in damages.
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