{"id":34650,"date":"2013-03-31T10:10:43","date_gmt":"2013-03-31T08:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=34650"},"modified":"2013-04-02T09:31:06","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T07:31:06","slug":"telkom-not-waiting-for-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/34650\/telkom-not-waiting-for-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Telkom not waiting for govt guidance: reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telkom<\/a> has a new CEO and a new strategy – and it won’t be waiting for permission and guidance from government to implement it, according to media reports.<\/p>\n

On Thursday (28 March 2013) Telkom announced that it would be placing former Vodacom<\/a> SA MD, Sipho Maseko<\/a>, as the head of the company, effective 1 April 2013.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Maseko said that he was aware that, to many, Telkom was regarded as a “basket case”, but he remained confident he could make a difference.<\/p>\n

“The board appointed me so they obviously think there is a contribution that I can make,” Maseko told the paper.<\/p>\n

“I think there are a lot of credible people and I am enthused by the appointment.”<\/p>\n

\"Sipho<\/a>

Sipho Maseko<\/p><\/div>\n

Strategy shift<\/h3>\n

However, speaking to the City Press, Telkom chairman Jabu Mabuza<\/a> said that “Maseko cannot turn the business around on his own”, saying that the new chief executive is part of a team and greater strategy.<\/p>\n

“The objective of Telkom’s turnaround is to deliver sustainable performance. It is a strategy that requires a strong leadership team with the ability to ensure performance and execution and gain the support of all of its stakeholders,” Mabuzo said.<\/p>\n

Government is currently the biggest stakeholder in the company through its own 39.8% stake in Telkom, and the 10.5% held by the Public Investment Corporation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After blocking a deal between Korea Telecom<\/a> and Telkom in June 2012, Pule was tasked with formulating a selection of strategies for the company moving forward.<\/p>\n

By February 2013, these strategic options for Telkom had still not been tabled before Cabinet.<\/p>\n

However, Mabuzo dismissed the notion that Telkom would simply follow a strategy handed to it by government through Cabinet and Communications Minister, Dina Pule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Telkom is a public, listed company that has got a lot of other shareholders other than government.” Mabuzo told The Sunday Times.<\/p>\n

“Shareholders don’t give companies strategies. Shareholders approve strategies that deliver the return they expect from their investment.”<\/p>\n

Mabuza said that Telkom now has a strategy that was put together by its board, and it would not be waiting for goverment for guidance.<\/p>\n

\"Jabulani<\/a>

Jabulani Mabuza<\/p><\/div>\n

Hurdles to overcome<\/h3>\n

Even with a new CEO and direction, Telkom still faces a tough time in the market.<\/p>\n

While the operator still has to deal with competition-related fines that are being imposed on it, it also has to tackle the dismissal – or “voluntary resignation” – process within its own ranks.<\/p>\n

The company currently faces a R449 million fine for abusing its dominance in the telecommunications market between 1999 and 2004 \u2013 a period in which Telkom was a monopoly provider of telecommunications facilities.<\/p>\n

On 11 March, Telkom announced that management and bargaining unit staff would be afforded the opportunity of applying for voluntary severance packages.<\/p>\n

The Communication Worker’s Union has threatened action against Telkom’s employee dismissal plan.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Mabuza said that there is no “hit list” number of employees Telkom wants to get rid of, but rather the company is trying to create a leaner, more efficient operation that is more profitable for shareholders.<\/p>\n

“For too long we haven’t done what we should have,” Mabuza said.<\/p>\n

Telkom closed the week trading at R15.00 on the JSE, having rallied 5.6% on the appointment of Maseko. Despite the positive spin, Telkom has still lost 38% of its share value since last year.<\/p>\n

More on Telkom<\/h3>\n

Sipho Maseko the new Telkom CEO<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Telkom withdraws fine appeal: report<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Telkom not firing 13,000 people<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Confusion as Telkom awaits fate<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Worst performing tech shares of 2012<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telkom has a new CEO and a new strategy – and it won’t be waiting for permission and guidance from government to implement it, according to media reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":21826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1553,26,4816,2414,65],"class_list":["post-34650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-cwu","tag-headline","tag-jabu-mabuza","tag-sipho-maseko","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34650","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34650"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34712,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34650\/revisions\/34712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}