Telkom's cellular offering may be closer than expected; however, it will not reveal any details on possible roaming agreements with MTN.
Last night, TechCentral reported Telkom is close to signing a roaming deal with Africa's largest operator, MTN, citing several unnamed sources. The deal reportedly tips Vodacom out of the ring to carry Telkom's mobile traffic.
However, this morning, Telkom would only say: “We do not comment on speculation.”
Telkom is expected to invest R6 billion over the next five years to get its mobile business up and running. The company's cellular plans have always included a roaming agreement with one of the operators, but many expected it to be Vodacom, since a relationship already exists.
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.
Analysts say the market is ready for a Telkom cellular offering and the sooner the company gets one off the ground the better. Research has also found that South Africans are keen to get hold of a Telkom SIM card.
MTN had not responded to ITWeb's query by the time of publication.
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