The mobile-phone market in South Africa has evolved rapidly since competition was introduced to the sector 15 years ago, and the market has reached a mature stage. Future growth in mobile subscriptions will therefore be restricted by the already high levels of penetration, which have reached more than 140%.
As the growth rate in mobile subscriptions slows, service providers such as Vodacom and MTN have shown an interest in expanding the fixed-line broadband market. Vodacom has announced that it will be deploying fibre-optic cable to 150,000 homes and 100,000 businesses over the following three years. This aggressive stance is an about-turn in strategy; less than a year ago, service providers were almost unanimous in arguing against such changes in their business models. Now, not only Telkom, but also Vodacom, MTN and a number of smaller service providers are competing to build "last-mile" fibre-optic networks directly into consumer's homes. Telkom may arguably have been ahead of the game, had it not wasted R1obn (US$909111) on its ventures into Nigeria.
Telkom, the former incumbent, plans to spend around R6bn over the next five years on its own mobile-phone business, having divested its 50% stake in Vodacom, the country's principal mobile operator, in May 2009. Losses at Telkom Mobile (previously 8ta) remain substantial. Although mobile revenue in the six months to end-September 2014 increased by 55% on the year-earlier period, to R1.4bn, and mobile data revenue was up by 39.3% to R422m, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) losses still amounted to R385m (although this was half the level for the same period of 2013).

Telecommunications report 2

Mobile 2

Fixed 5

Internet 6

Industry publishing schedule 9

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