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Vodacom enters fixed-line arena
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 24 June
2007
Vodacom plans to rollout its own
fixed-line network. They unveiled their plans last week.
Vodacom’s plans are good news for consumers and second-tier telecoms operators but
less favourable for second national operator (SNO), Neotel. Although Neotel already indicated that they
are ready to compete, Vodacom’s entrance into the fixed-line arena will definitely heat things up for
them.
‘Neotel will struggle to capture fixed-line market share as mobile operator Vodacom
enters this arena, say observers’ (Neotel faces Vodacom battle, ITWEB, 14 June 2007).
In other words, Neotel and Vodacom will compete for the same slice of the
cake.
How big a market share will Vodacom take away from Neotel?
Well, at this time it’s difficult to say although…
‘…Vodacom has the advantage of having an established distribution infrastructure’
(Neotel faces Vodacom battle, ITWEB, 14 June 2007). This is according to Spiwe Chireka, Research Analyst at Frost
& Sullivan. He added: “Vodacom's success over MTN in the South African market was largely due to their
effective distribution channel and this is likely to be the case again” (Neotel faces Vodacom battle, ITWEB, 14
June 2007).
In other words, Vodacom has a lot going for them and will probably grab a big chunk
of any market share that would go Neotel’s way.
All is not lost for Neotel however…
‘…Vodacom's fixed-line plans make Transtel even more of a strategic asset to Neotel,
as its established footprint will help the second national operator roll-out services much faster’ (Neotel faces
Vodacom battle, ITWEB, 14 June 2007). This is according to Dave Gale, Business Development Manager at
Storm.
In other words, with Transtel onboard Neotel will be able to face the coming
storm with more confidence.
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