SA's fixed-line incumbent has taken what it terms the next vital step towards “true fixed mobile convergence” (FMC) with the introduction of bundled solutions for its business customers.
Part of Telkom's strategic drive to secure the fixed mobile convergence market, the company today unveiled three packages combining fixed and mobile solutions, together with unified billing.
CEO Nombulelo “Pinky” Moholi says the announcement, made at a media briefing at the National Network Operations Centre in Pretoria this morning, was also in line with the company's recent undertaking to keep stakeholders informed as to the company's strategy. “[So] I am pleased to announce our progress on the FMC journey.”
Moholi says Telkom's FMC strategy, led by Telkom Business MD Dr Brian Armstrong, is a journey that will ultimately end in seamless unified communication.
Blended offerings
Telkom's bundled solutions, which essentially offer billing integration - as opposed to backend integration - includes a fixed and mobile data bundle for R469 per month, a fixed and mobile voice bundle for R499 per month, and a fixed voice, fixed data and mobile voice bundle for R969 per month.
Aimed at the SME market, Armstrong says the opening offerings were “strongly informed by the market”. He says international research has shown customers' uptake of converged services is, at first, steeped in the discount element. “As businesses use the services the advantage becomes more about the simplicity and time-saving attributes [of a single billing system]. This is important to small businesses.”
Ultimately, says Armstrong, what customers want at this stage is a single bill and discounts on bundles. “They will eventually evolve to wanting more integration, and cloud services, but for now this is what the market wants.”
Telkom says it has mapped out an “aggressive roadmap” toward offering full FMC and seamless unified communications. “[Telkom] has already achieved a number of milestones, including the launch of Cybernest, Telkom Business Mobile and the unveiling of Telkom Business Broadband.”
Armstrong says Telkom is currently the only telecoms player with the capability of delivering solutions that cover both fixed and mobile fields. “We have the necessary infrastructure, network, products, scale and resources to offer the best of the fixed and mobile technology worlds.”
While the company unveiled three fixed mobile deals today, Armstrong says Telkom is set to reveal about 20 further “convergence deals” over the coming weeks. As of tomorrow, business customers will also be able to tailor-make their own packages. “All the convergence deals can be tailored to specific requirements via a deal builder portal on Telkom Business' Online Shopping Basket.”
He also revealed Telkom would in the near future offer SIM bundle deals on convergence accounts and closed user group deals, with up to 20 000 mobile users, and free calls to one fixed-line on certain deals.
“Essentially, FMC will evolve from basic PBX mobile extensions to comprehensive UC with collaborative solutions. Telkom is currently piloting premise-based UC solutions with three large corporate customers as we gear up to reach the next milestone on this journey.”
Move to mobile
In light of declining voice revenue, Telkom said earlier this month it would push data and mobile, with the aim of driving these to half of revenue within four years.
Armstrong says the telecommunications world has shifted to mobile, despite the fact that the quality is inferior and the price higher than fixed-line communication. “It is a global trend and we cannot change that. The future is converged and so Telkom has to be converged.”
Telkom's latest financial results revealed its traditional market - fixed-line - continued to lose subscribers, falling below the four million mark recorded at half-year, to 3.995 million. Voice revenue dropped 6.5%, to R12.8 billion.
While voice revenue still accounts for the bulk of Telkom's income, it is declining while data is growing. Currently, data is 31.8% of revenue, while Telkom's mobile arm 8ta accounts for 3.6%.
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