Telkom wants slice of cellphone market
April 2, 2009
Johannesburg - Telkom expects to start selling a mobile service that allows customers to buy cellphones and airtime from Telkom shops in direct competition with existing cellular operators, Business Day reported on Thursday.
Telkom was building wireless base stations and negotiating with existing players to roam on one of their networks in areas where it was not cost-effective to build its own, the report said.
Telkom chief executive officer Reuben September told Business Day that being only a fixed-line business was never going to take the telecoms giant into the future.
The service would be simple to launch if Telkom wanted to offer a standalone mobile offering -- however the aim was to offer a package including fixed-line and broadband Internet access, the report said.
According to Business Day, the target market would be corporate customers and high-end residential areas.
However, Telkom said it would not ignore high-density townships.
The telecoms company would not build a national wireless network but would build in high-density areas and augment that with a roaming deal, the report said.
This would enable Telkom to not only compete but also to co-operate with its rivals. - Sapa
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