{"id":30051,"date":"2013-01-17T10:01:45","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T08:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=30051"},"modified":"2013-01-17T10:39:30","modified_gmt":"2013-01-17T08:39:30","slug":"vodacom-in-the-dock-over-wi-fi-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/30051\/vodacom-in-the-dock-over-wi-fi-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom in the dock over Wi-Fi contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

An urgent court application, filed by WirelessG<\/a> and six other applicants, argues that Vodacom<\/a> have signed away its right to offer Wi-Fi in any of its operations. The agreement essentially states that WirelessG has exclusivity on Wi-Fi in any Vodacom operation.<\/p>\n

WirelessG is well known for its Wi-Fi developments, which include the first ever Wi-Fi in airplane service in South Africa and a converged Wi-Fi, 3G and ADSL offering.<\/p>\n

According to the legal document, which is in possession of MyBroadband, Vodacom entered into an agreement with WirelessG which gives them exclusivity on all Wi-Fi services and infrastructure. This means that Vodacom may have signed its right to a technology (Wi-Fi) away.<\/p>\n

The document points to a shareholder agreement which contains the following clause:<\/p>\n

\u201cVodacom agreed to extend to WirelessG a first right of refusal to operate a channel to integrate to other (than WirelessG) Wi-Fi infrastructure providers that Vodacom would want to bring on board on offering Wi-Fi to Vodacom customers (a right of first refusal\/exclusivity in providing Wi-Fi services to Vodacom\u2019s customers)\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In another agreement between WirelessG and Vodacom Service Provider Company, the following clause is included:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Vodacom Ventures (and\/or any of its affiliated companies [which hence includes Vodacom]) is not permitted to provide Wi-Fi services independently from WirelessG\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the Wi-Fi exclusivity agreement \u2013 as presented by WirelessG \u2013 holds up in court, it can pose a significant risk to Vodacom.<\/p>\n

Mobile data offloading using Wi-Fi (hence carrying mobile data over a Wi-Fi network to relieve a congested cellular network) is starting to gain traction globally.<\/p>\n

Mark van Vuuren<\/a>, MD of Jasco<\/a> ICT Solutions, argues that offloading 3G onto Wi-Fi can result in cost reductions of up to 60% on traditional 3G deployments. This leaves more room for profitability as well as improved customer service.<\/p>\n

However, being forced to use WirelessG for all its Wi-Fi needs may not be the worst case scenario for Vodacom.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband has received information that WirelessG has been in discussions with large telecoms players and investors regarding business partnerships (partly based on this exclusivity agreement).<\/p>\n

Theoretically one of Vodacom\u2019s competitors can purchase a stake in WirelessG, and through this agreement influence Vodacom\u2019s fate in the Wi-Fi arena. Vodacom currently holds a 26% share in WirelessG.<\/p>\n

Vodacom may be left with no other choice but to purchase the remaining shares in WirelessG.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband asked van der Merwe about the rumoured negotiations with large telecoms players, but he would not elaborate the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were contacted [by interested parties], but I cannot provide any details of who the companies are or information on any commercial or share related discussions,\u201d said van der Merwe.<\/p>\n

Vodacom responds<\/h3>\n

Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman<\/a> confirmed that Vodacom received an urgent application from WirelessG in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the process of compiling a response which is due on 11 February. The matter is then set down for hearing on 11 March 2013,\u201d said Boorman.<\/p>\n

\u201cVodacom has been advised not to comment ahead of this as this may prejudice the case. Whilst we believe we have a strong defence to the allegations made by WirelessG we would nevertheless prefer to sit down with WirelessG and resolve the matter if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case is set to be heard on 5 February 2013, WirelessG said.<\/p>\n

More Vodacom investment articles<\/h3>\n

Vodacom investments under the spotlight<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cVodacom killed my business\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom\u2019s The Grid shut down date<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Stortech head steps down<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom planning to sell stake in Zoopy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodacom may have signed away its rights to Wi-Fi in an agreement which can influence the company\u2019s broadband plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[529,26,893,27,2180,2477],"class_list":["post-30051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-3g","tag-headline","tag-jasco","tag-vodacom","tag-wi-fi","tag-wirelessg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30051"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30054,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30051\/revisions\/30054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}