[Transcript] #48: Telkom - How the former South African monopoly evolved to provide telecommunication services across Africa
Transcript for podcast originally recorded on March 27, 2022
😉 In March 2022, we explored the story of Telkom, one of the four major mobile networks in South Africa alongside MTN, Vodacom, and Cell C. This episode was unique because it was one of the few times we at Afrobility discussed a company that was clearly underperforming. I concluded the podcast by stating that Telkom was in the worst position of any telco we had ever covered on Afrobility, and, as always, I wished them the best of luck.
Companies discussed: Telkom, Vodacom, Vodafone, Cell C, MTN, Southwestern Bell Communications (now AT&T), Safaricom (M-Pesa), Rain Networks & Multilink
Business concepts discussed: Telecommunications (Telco) strategy, Mobile money, Internet connectivity, International telecommunication expansion, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Cell Towers spinoffs & Telco regulation
Enjoy!
Olumide Ogunsanwo
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Transcript starts here
[00:00:00] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Welcome to Afrobility, a conversation about African business and technology. Today, we're going to talk about Telkom, the South African telecommunications company. We'll explore the Telkom story across five different areas.
One, we'll start with some context about the South African Telkom sector. Two, we'll talk about Telkom's early history. Three, we'll deep dive into Telkom's primary telco and non telco businesses. Four, we'll talk about Telkom's financial performance over time. And then five, we'll end with our views on its overall outlook.
This episode was recorded on March 27, 2022. How’s it going?
[00:00:30] Bankole Makanju: Good. The weather in Seattle has been great over the last couple of days. Lots of walks.
[00:00:38] Olumide Ogunsanwo: I'm more surprised that you always talk about weather, it freaks me out, but I'm getting used to it.
[00:00:42] Bankole Makanju: It's Seattle.
[00:00:43] Olumide Ogunsanwo: It must be a Seattle thing.
[00:00:44] Bankole Makanju: It's a Seattle thing.
[00:00:46] Olumide Ogunsanwo: For people that aren't familiar with Seattle, is it, is it famous for rain and cold like London?
Or would you describe it differently?
[00:00:51] Bankole Makanju: It's famous for the sun like Miami, and that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. And you're sticking with it.
[00:00:56] Olumide Ogunsanwo: What are we talking about today? So we're talking about Telkom.
[00:01:01] Bankole Makanju: The South African government owned for the most part telecom's operators.
[00:01:05] Olumide Ogunsanwo: This is not to be confused with Telecom Kenya, which is a completely different company and 60% owned by Helios and the Kenyan government. Not to be confused with Telecom Indonesia, a completely different company. Today’s discussion is about Telkom from South Africa.
We're not talking about Malaysia or Indonesia or Kenya today. South African mobile telecommunications company, along with MTN, Vodacom, and Celsi, it's one of the four major telco networks in South Africa. It's primarily a South African business, although if you ask them, they'll say they're in dozens of African countries, but that's for IT services.