Vodacom eyes acquisition opportunities in Africa (Africa)
South African cellphone operator Vodacom Group Ltd. said that it is ready to grow its operations further across Africa and is on the hunt for small acquisitions.
Chief Executive Pieter Uys told DJN that they feel more comfortable that they have the recipe to be successful outside South Africa. Uys said the company is looking to make smaller acquisitions in the $100 million range focusing on a few countries on the continent that provide a stable political environment, big city populations and which aren’t overcrowded with other mobile phone operators.
As per the report, the key to expansion, Uys said, will be to establish a local presence in each country. When the company first expanded, Uys said it would put together packages in its home base of South Africa and then carry them out to the other countries it operates in–Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and Congo. He added that Vodacom is considering expanding into Angola, Ethiopia and Uganda.
While telecommunications companies in Africa are benefiting from the expansion of its user base as more people enter the cellphone market, that growth doesn’t come without complications.
Vodacom is battling a court case over its 51 percent shareholding in Congo after a former consultant for the company took it to court over a payment dispute. Congolese courts ruled that Vodacom is liable to pay the company, Nememco,$21 million, and said if the company doesn’t settle the payment, the courts will conduct a public auction of its shares in Vodacom Congo on June 3.
Total Vodacom customers rose to 47.8 million for the year ended March 31, up 11 million from the previous year. In South Africa, customers rose by 6.1 million to 28.9 million.
Vodacom launches low flat rates for Africa roaming (Africa)
Vodacom customers can expect huge roaming savings when travelling to 6 African countries where Vodacom and Vodafone operate. These countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania. Vodacom is leveraging its presence and that of its parent company Vodafone in these African countries, to provide customers who travel to these countries with reduced rates applicable across the Vodacom and Vodafone networks.
The flat rates have resulted in roaming data rates being reduced by more than 70 per cent, from $ 2.2 per MB to only $ 0.64 per MB. In addition, roaming customers will also enjoy free incoming calls when they travel in these countries.
Commenting on the new Africa roaming service, Romeo Kumalo, Chief Commercial Officer at Vodacom said that they know that people want to remain connected whether they are at home or on holiday in Mozambique, and that nobody likes the headache of worrying about roaming bills. What they’re launching today is a solution to give their customers peace of mind when travelling. They now have one low roaming rate across our African family of networks and an especially aggressive data rate – just in time for the Easter holidays.
These rates are only applicable when roaming on the Vodacom Lesotho, Vodacom Mozambique, Vodacom Tanzania, Vodacom DRC, Vodafone Ghana and Safaricom Kenya networks. The reduced rates will automatically apply to all customers who are roaming on the networks above. Standard roaming rates will apply if roaming on a non Vodacom or Vodafone network in these countries.
Mobile money services receive success in Africa (Africa)
The success of mobile banking services in Africa can be gauged by a report by FNB, highlighting a 150 per cent hike in transaction growth for its cellphone banking service and 1384 per cent growth for eWallet, for the month of December 2011 when compared to the previous December.
The report reveals that customers conducted 2.4 million cellphone banking transactions during December 2011 in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Swaziland and Lesotho, to the value of US$ 27.9 million as compared to US$ 128,485 transactions in December 2010.
Botswana, recorded over 1.3 million cellphone banking transactions, representing a 126 per cent increase year-on-year. Further, Namibia recorded year-on-year growth of 155 per cent, with Zambia at 308 per cent and Swaziland at 227 per cent.
As per the report, Ravesh Ramlakan, CEO, FNB Cellphone Banking Solutions, has said that the increasing confidence amongst consumers in using their handsets for money transcations have greatly aided in the adoption of mobile money services in the country. He added that innovation has played a key role in growing cellphone banking across Africa. Further, their ability to adapt the service for use on any cellphone has been an important driver of this growth.
Users can conduct a number of transactions using FNB Cellphone Banking, including transferring money between their own FNB accounts, buying prepaid airtime and making third party payments.
The report reveals that, FNB eWallet has generated 407,110 original sends in its four African Operations (Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia) as at the end of December 2011. In Botswana FNB eWallet, saw an increase in original sends of 1236 per cent year-on-year from December 2010 to December 2011.
Yolande van Wyk, CEO, FNB eWallet Solutions has said that although eWallet has only recently been introduced to markets outside South Africa, the service has demonstrated strong potential for continued growth into the future. He claims that a country like Zambia for example has 5.4 million mobile phone users and a large informal sector, making a solution such as eWallet ideal in helping bridge the financial services gap between the banked and the unbanked. eWallet reduces both risk and cost, and in African markets they have found this to be essential in any financial product offering. Simple, convenient and affordable financial services represent the future of banking in Africa.
eWallet allows FNB customers to send money to anyone within the borders of the country in which the service operates. The convenience lies in the fact that the recipient does not need to have a bank account. The money is transferred instantly and the recipient uses a pin code sent to their cellphone to access the cash from FNB ATMs.
Vodacom Mozambique implements Vodafone colours
Vodacom Mozambique has announced an overhaul in its image, to bring it into line with the image of its major shareholder Vodafone.
All Vodacom advertising which were on a background of blue has now been dropped, replaced by Vodafone’s bright red. The Vodacom and Vodafone logo now look much the same.
According to Vodacom-Mozambique CEO Jose dos Santos, this is not happening just in Mozambique, but throughout the Vodacom Group. He pointed out that Vodafone holds 66% of the shares in the Vodacom Group.
In addition to Mozambique and South Africa, Vodacom has operations in Lesotho, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Vodacom Tanzania takes up Vodafone colour
Vodacom Tanzania has shifted its corporate colour to ‘red’- that of the parent company Vodafone and has dropped its previous blue branding.
UK-based Vodafone Group had acquired 65% stake in 2009 to control Vodacom’s operations in South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Tanzania operator has also adopted the Vodafone logo as part of its branding. Earlier, Vodacom South Africa announced a similar move.
Vodafone introduces ultra low cost handsets
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: To enable millions of people in the developing world to experience the connectivity a mobile phone can offer, two new ultra low cost handsets has been launched by Vodafone.
Vodafone 150 and the Vodafone 250 offer voice and SMS services, polyphonic ringtones, 2 integrated games, a vibrating alert, memory for up to 100 phonebook entries, a 500mAh battery (up to 400 hours standby and up to 5 hours talk time) and it will operate on GSM 900/1800.
The handsets will be launched in India, Turkey, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania at a price of US$15 and US$20 respectively.
According to Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s Group Director of Terminals, the cost of mobile handsets can be one of the most significant barriers for people in accessing and benefiting from the growing number of socially valuable mobile services.
Vodafone to supply low-Cost mobiles to its emerging markets
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A couple of low-cost mobile phones will be started by Vodafone that will retail, without a subsidy, for less than US$20 each. India, Turkey and 8 markets in Africa – The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania will receive the phones initially.
An extensive logistics infrastructure, reaching deep rural segments where mobile penetration typically remains low will support the launches in order to maximize the availability of the handsets across countries with sizeable and isolated rural populations.
According to Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s Group Director of Terminals, the cost of mobile handsets can be one of the most significant barriers for people in accessing and benefiting from the growing number of socially valuable mobile services and the lives of the people will be changed and improved as they become part of the mobile society.
Vodafone opens new office to target SA multinationals
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The global enterprise business of Vodafone opened its office in South Africa targeting locally-based multinational companies. The aim behind this step was to offer consistent mobile solution for multinational businesses besides providing a single service for all their operations irrespective of the country it is based in.
Global Enterprise has its office in the US, Europe and parts of Asia while Vodafone and Vodacom together operates in SA, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya (Safaricom), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Lesotho and Tanzania,.
According to Vodafone Global Enterprise CEO Nick Jeffery, the company will tackle mobile e-mails and single billing sets and can also offer a single price across the globe for its customers as single price can lessen risk across the countries it operates.
While the main focus is on countries where Vodafone operates, it can barter deals with providers in other countries where it has no offices. Both Vodafone Global Enterprise and Vodacom are expected to work together to establish its roots in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Vodacom Lesotho-Vodafone in a deal
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Lesotho’s largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, Vodacom Lesotho is in partnership with Vodafone. This partnership will help with the provision of more affordable and better quality services in the country, and will allow roaming in over 27 countries.
Communications, Science and Technology Minister, Mothetjoa Metsing, stated that it was the government’s intention to continue developing the telecoms industry to enable people in rural areas to have access to services, and was currently working on introducing new forms of legislation for the sector.
Managing Director of Vodacom Lesotho, Godfrey Mbingo, said, ‘Through the partnership, it is hoped that more people will be connected with mobile phones, while on the other hand, business opportunities will be increased.’ According to a report, Vodacom Lesotho has ended 2008 with a subscriber base of 489,000, holding a market share of 80%.
Kenya’s Mobile Market (Kenya)
Kenya is among the rapidly growing mobile markets in Africa. With Mobile Operators like Safricom (Vodafone, Telekom), Zain, Econet Wireless, Safaricom has the largest number of subscribers. This can be attributed to it’s many tarrifs which give Kenyanans the opportunity to select the most convenient tarrif depending on one’s requirement.The continent’s bull market is being driven in part by a growing African middle class seeking new investment opportunities. And with the U.S. economy wobbling, American and European investment funds are taking an increased interest in Africa, buying bargain-priced shares of undiscovered companies. At the end of 2007 there were 280.7 million mobile phone subscribers in Africa, representing a penetration rate of 30.4%. Even more interesting, when you look at the major African markets, is to see the huge growth potential for areas that are already very profitable.
Growth rate in Africa has been remarkable over the last couple of years and is forecasted to continue for the next 3-5 years. Major drivers include:
* Pre-paid offerings
* Continued liberalization of the telcom sector
* Low penetration rates
* Expected uptake of 3G services
Growth inhibitors include:
* Taxation – especially in East Africa
* Low income across the continent hampers growth
* Widespread illiteracy decreases the growth of value added services, even SMS
* Unreliable electricity supplies
* Corruption
Interesting Facts
* Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt are the fastest growing markets
* Africa has become the fastest growing mobile market in the world with mobile penetration in the region ranging from 100% to 30%
* Pre-paid subscriptions account for nearly 95 percent of total mobile subscriptions in the region
* Most of the mobile operators are home-grown. In 2005, the continent’s seven largest investors controlled 53% of the African mobile market
* Across most of Africa, SMS is likely to be the only non-voice value-added service to gain mass market popularity in the immediate future
* East Africans pay taxes of between 25% and 30% on mobile phone services, compared with an average of 17% across Africa
* African states with less than 600,000 subscribers and includes Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros (Union of the), Djibouti, Equitorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gambia (The), Lesotho, Liberia, Mayotte, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Somalia, Swaziland and Rwanda.
