Telkom has made no decision about which mobile operator will carry its mobile traffic when it gets its cellular offering off the ground, the company said in a statement.
The fixed-line operator's statement follows speculation yesterday that Telkom had decided to appoint MTN as its mobile roaming partner. However, Telkom SA MD Pinky Moholi says discussions are ongoing.
“Telkom would like to state that, while roaming negotiations and site sharing arrangements are at an advanced stage with the mobile cellular operators, Telkom has not finalised any agreement with any of the parties as yet,” she adds.
MTN was rumoured to have pipped Vodacom to the post on the deal; however, MTN has also denied a deal has been signed. “MTN SA will not comment on speculation regarding a domestic roaming agreement with Telkom. No agreement has been signed with Telkom,” it notes.
A deal with MTN could be an indication of where Telkom plans to take its mobile solution. MTN has the largest mobile presence in Africa, and Telkom has been punting its own African expansion plans.
With networks in 22 countries, Telkom could piggyback off MTN into the markets it craves. Telkom has also got its own mobile infrastructure, which it will likely use over and above roaming on mobile networks.
It already has a nomadic wireless platform, which supports more than 5 000 customers surfing across 73 base stations. Telkom started the roll-out of its CDMA solution in October 2008.
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