Telkom best placed to weather the regulatory storm, says JP Morgan
The second half of 2018 will be a "defining period for regulatory risk" for the telecommunications sector, but Telkom is in the best position to weather the storm, according to investment bank JP Morgan. Telecommunications network operators face a swathe of new regulations and market inquiries aimed at extending broadband coverage and lowering the costs to communicate, and some of the proposals on the table have irked them. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub has gone so far as to say the impending Electronic Communications Amendment Bill is the industry’s equivalent of the Mining Charter, which has been blamed for denting investor appetite in the resources sector. One of the most contentious recommendations in the bill is the establishment of a wireless open-access network (Woan) that would force operators in the country to share spectrum, or radio frequencies. Vodacom and some of its peers want regulators to rather focus on releasing new spectrum so they can roll out services faster and ch...
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