Telkom loses international connection dominance

Generating much interest this week was government's announcement that local cellular operators will now be allowed to internationally self-provision - effectively breaking Telkom's stranglehold on international connectivity.

Although it sounds like the authorisation to self-provision for one's own international link is a good thing, it's possible consumers won't see much of a price impact, as one telecoms analyst explains.

At an Eskom executive forum late last week, the electricity utility reaffirmed that it would not retain its stake in Neotel. Eskom's stake, said CEO Thulani Gcabashe, held through Eskom Telecoms, would be divested after a "fixed time frame".

Maanda Manyatshe, MD of MTN, resigned on Monday, amid allegations of tender mismanagement while he was CEO of the SA Post Office (SAPO), a position he held before moving to MTN two years ago.

Manyatshe resigned - he says - to protect and uphold MTN's reputation and image, and devote his time to the legal war that will no doubt commence between himself and the new SAPO CEO Khutso Mampeule.

Transnet and Eskom are in discussions for two long-term contracts to be embedded in arivia.kom, sweetening the deal for potential buyers.

Dave Glazier, journalist, ITWeb

Arivia.kom will have a new owner by March next year, according to acting CEO Kiruban Pillay. He said yesterday that outgoing shareholders Transnet and Eskom are in discussions for two long-term contracts to be embedded in arivia.kom, sweetening the deal for potential buyers.

JSE-listed telecoms company DataPro revealed this week its intention to buy Orion Telecom for R380 million. The proposed acquisition will, says DataPro, allow the company to achieve a scale not otherwise easy to attain.

One telecoms acquisition that seems likely to go through is Vodacom's purchase of a 10% stake in iBurst. Alan Knott-Craig junior, MD of iBurst, says he can't disclose how much it has been sold for. Alan Knott-Craig senior, CEO of Vodacom, says he wants to dabble in WiMax a little.

Finally, this week marked the beginning of mobile number portability (MNP), and after much talk about how it might shake up the pre- and postpaid cellular markets, the actual interest has been low. So low in fact (and we're talking about hundreds of people, not even thousands), that many are wondering whether the R300 million project (paid for by the operators) was worth it.