Another retrenchment stint at Telkom. While we were informed that Telkom is the only SOE which made profit in the last three to five years’ annual reports, it is saddening to hear that Telkom began retrenchment consultations on Wednesday 22^nd January. Analysts have reached a general consensus that the challenges at the company are self-inflicted.  They believe Telkom has been protecting legacy technologies at the cost of falling behind with what the market wants and needs.

In a statement, it said: “Rapid changes in technology remain a key challenge for the group. While Telkom has made the necessary investments in new technologies and revenue streams, particularly in the fast-growing mobile business, this has taken its toll on profitability. “The company launched a Section 189 process on 17 January, as part of the group’s efforts to ensure its stability and sustainability into the future as it contends with an increasingly tough operating environment.”
 
However, analysts say Telkom’s ongoing problem has been its inability to change its fixed-line incumbent mindset and envision a more open-ended future. Telkom is looking to cut up to 3 000 jobs as it is faced with dwindling fixed-line revenues.

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