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South Africa Telecommunications Report Q4 2009Product Type: Market Research ReportPublished by: Business Monitor International Published: September 2009 Product Code: R302-7976 Description Our latest update on the South African telecoms market contains newly revised forecasts for the country’sfixed-line and mobile telephony markets. One particularly notable change concerns our 3G forecast,which has been overhauled to take into account new data published by the country’s mobile operators.Meanwhile, in the Data Analysis section of our report, we have incorporated the latest operational datapublished by South Africa’s fixed-line incumbent Telkom SA, as well as the country’s two largest mobileoperators, Vodacom and MTN.The latest full set of mobile subscriber figures for all of South Africa’s mobile operators relates to the endof March 2009. In the three months ending March 31 2009, the total mobile customer base increased by3.8% to surpass 51.9mn. Growth in the first three months of the year was weaker than in Q408. However,it was considerably higher than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Although growth wasdriven by an upsurge in the number of prepaid customers at Vodacom, both MTN and Vodacom continueto report healthy growth in the postpaid customer segment. By the end of March 2009, South Africa’smobile penetration rate had risen to 106.9%. Meanwhile, the latest fixed-line data from Telkom shows that the number of fixed access lines fell by1.8% in the 12 months ending March 31 2009. Over the same period, Telkom reported a 33% increase inthe number of ADSL customers. In May 2009, it was reported that Vodafone of the UK had completed its US$2.5bn acquisition of afurther 15% stake in Vodacom, which was previously held by Telkom. As a result, Vodafone raised itsstake in Vodacom from 50% to 65%. On May 18 2009, the remaining 35% interest in Vodacom, whichhad been held by Telkom, was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Earlier in May, the pathwas cleared for Vodacom to be listed on the JSE after courts ruled against a move to block the sale by theCommunications Workers Union (CWU). Other notable news from the South African telecoms market includes the inauguration of the SEACOMcable system on July 23. The SEACOM cable, which is 17,000km long, connects Kenya, Tanzania,Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa to Europe and India. It was due to be launched in June but wasdelayed by pirate activity off the coast of Somalia. South Africa has dropped to sixth position place inBMI’s latest set of Business Environment Rankings for Africa. The change of position is mainly theresult of a weaker Telecoms Market rating. The lower score in the Telecoms Market category reflects thelower ARPU that was reported by both Vodacom and MTN in Q109. Both operators have reportedweaker customer spending, a phenomenon that is related to South Africa’s economic slowdown. Table of Contents
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