South African mobile operator 8ta revealed during parent company Telkom’s annual earnings meeting that it has vastly increased its mobile subscriber base. For the financial year ended March 2012, the newest mobile operator in South Africa grew by 213%.
8ta added 1.5-million new mobile subscribers, pushing its entire mobile subscriber base to over 3-million. The company also revealed that 58,9% of its user base was on pre-paid accounts, while only 443 953 users are on a permanent contract.
Parent company Telkom said that it remains committed to 8ta, although 8ta saw a loss in profits to the tune of R2,2-billion.
“(Telkom remains) committed to the mobile business and, although tactics may change from time to time, the broader strategy to defend erosion in our fixed-line business while growing converged delivery channels to our customers, remains a key priority,” it said in a statement.
Telkom also revealed that 51% of its mobile voice traffic and 85% of its mobile data operates on its own infrastructure.
“(Growing demand for data in SA) is a core feature of our mobile strategy and it is essential that this be done in such a way that it does not lead to cannibalisation of our other services. Instead, we must offer services that reward the customer for using Telkom’s products with varying levels of incentives, depending on the customer’s level of loyalty,” the statement continued.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
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