Remgro and Vodacom have plans to challenge Telkom’s fixed-line dominance
Plans by Remgro and Vodacom to break Telkom’s dominance of the fixed-line market could make SA’s "open access fibre-to-the-home" market more competitive — but not enough to overtake mobile’s lead in the local internet access market, BMI Research said in a note e-mailed on Tuesday morning."Incumbent Telkom continues to be the largest provider of fixed internet access services in SA, through its control over the legacy public switched telephone network (PSTN) infrastructure and its dominant position in the asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) market," BMI said."However, its copper last-mile network is quickly deteriorating as Telkom has prioritised investment in its core backhaul network."In 2006, the government allowed a second entrant into what had historically been a state monopoly market by licensing Neotel. But by then, an effort by a new fixed-lined operator to compete against Vodacom, MTN and Cell C was a non-starter.Neotel still exists as Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Z...
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