The wait is almost over, the cost of telecommunications and Internet connectivity is set to be slashed soon when the 17 000km SEACOM fibre-optic undersea cable comes online this month in Southern and Eastern Africa. The cable is set to go live on 27 June. SEACOM would offer wholesale internet bandwidth - several times the current availability - to companies such as Neotel, Telkom, MTN and Vodacom. That should mean that these companies will be purchasing their bulk bandwidth at a fraction of the cost that they are currently paying and thus they should pass on this savings to us the consumer! I would be very mad if they do not do so!

I for example spend R389 a month for 2GB of bandwidth from Vodacom. This 2GB is just not enough for me during the month and to get it up to 3GB I would have to pay an extra R200 for that extra 1GB!!! There is no indication yet from any of the companies on how much we will now be paying for Internet bandwidth but the hope is that it will be a substantial drop. I am hoping to hear something along the lines of R100 for 5GB!

This SEACOM cable should not only mean we have cheaper bandwidth but it is also going to result in us having faster internet connectivity. Faster connectivity will mean that we will be able to do more online in a shorter space of time and also be able to watch HDTV and multi-media over the internet. Could this signal the demise of DSTV? We may not need satellite dishes anymore if we can watch TV via the internet! I see a lot of changes taking place thanks to this cable and it should all benefit us the consumer and businesses as a whole.

Vodacom finally got listed on the JSE yesterday (Monday 18 May) after doubts about the listing as investors were made to wait for a high court ruling over the weekend to be sure that the listing would occur. The trade union, COSATU, were the ones who wanted to stop Vodacom from listing on the JSE as they felt that it was not right for British company Vodafone to increase its stake in Vodacom from 50% to 60% thus giving the the British company a controlling stake in a South African company. COSATU had a valid point but Judge John Murphey dismissed COSATU’s court application.

If COSATU had gotten its way and Vodacom did not list on the JSE yesterday, that would have been a big blow to the South Africa economy as foreign investors would have been reluctant to invest in South Africa. But now that Vodacom has listed, we will see a R22.5 billion injection of foreign currency into the country from this deal. This R22.5 billion is much welcome in the economy as we have a large current account deficit.

What was interesting to note on the JSE yesterday was the Telkom share price. The share price of Telkom almost halved to R60 a share, as the market cap of Vodacom was taken out of Telkom and distributed to Telkom shareholders (along with a special dividend). The Vodacom share closed the day yesterday at R58.80 after having hovered around the R60 mark during the day. It will be interesting to keep an eye on the Vodacom share over the next couple of weeks to see how it performs.

In the ever changing world of technology, mobile operator Vodacom has intoduced the Short Voice Service (SVS) to customers in South Africa. What is SVS you may be asking? Well, instead of sending an SMS which is in text, you can now send a short voice message (30 seconds long) to another Vodacom subscriber without having to talk to them. 

To use SVS, you dial the #digit followed by the number of the recipient (i.e. #0821234567) and leave the SVS - a warning beep/s will sound 25 seconds into the recording to warn the speaker that the 30 second limit has almost been reached. The cost of an SVS will be R0.90 (90 cents) but the SVS service will be free of charge until 9 November 2008. Normal billing will commence on 10 November 2008, and customers will be billed an all-day fixed rate of R0.90 (incl VAT) per SVS sent.
Read the rest of this entry »

I attended a presentation in Cape Town this weekend, hosted by Nexus Business, where a team of sales personnel from Neotel were showcasing their companies products and offerings to the South Africa market. I must say I was highly impressed with what Neotel have to offer the market and what stood out the most was the price of the products and services Neotel has to offer. Telkom and the other mobile phone operators are in for a tough time. Gone are the days we are going to be paying a fortune for telecom costs in South Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

The battle between the cellular giants in South Africa continues. This past weekend, Vodacom launched YEBO4LESS which seems to rival MTN’s Zone offering but as with an competition, Vodacom have gone a step further than MTN. What YEBO4LESS and MTN Zone virtually do is; callers get discounted call rates depending on where they are making their call from with regards to the amount of ‘traffic’ in use on the network based on their location. So lets say I am in an area with very little network traffic, my phone call will cost a lot cheaper than if I were in an area such as the CBD where there is a lot of ‘traffic’ on the network. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a recent eMarketer forecast, mobile marketing will reach more than $19 billion globally by 2012. With that said, I think it is clear for all to see the effect mobile marketing is going to play over the next couple of years and it is time for South Africa to start to make a significant contribution into this lucrative and emerging market. Read the rest of this entry »

A report in the Business Day, today said that, the price of international bandwidth in South Africa would plummet 80% when the Seacom undersea cable goes live on June 17 next year. This is great news for all in South Africa as internet costs are currently very high and hindering businesses from expanding and reaping the full benefits online media can offer to businesses today. It is reported that, the Seacom cable will cost as little as R267 a month per 1MB, compared to between R3500 and R11000 to use Telkom’s bandwidth on the existing Sat-3 cable, or a punishing R231000 for satellite connectivity. That is one big difference in prices! Read the rest of this entry »