MTN Group says it expects prices for voice and data to stabilise in 2014, following a price war in the South African industry over the past 18 months.<\/p>\n
MTN Group chief executive\u00a0Safiso Dabengwa said: “We think we will see more stability” relating to voice and data in 2014. “2013 was very\u00a0aggressive,” he said.<\/p>\n
Dabengwa has been critical of smaller competitors in the past, warning that\u00a0\u201cthey start doing very destructive things in the market in the hope that it will improve their position\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking at MTN’s headquarters in Johannesburg recently,\u00a0Dabengwa said that he didn’t expect any decision around mobile termination rates to change anything regarding competition in the SA market.<\/p>\n
MTRs are the fees operators charge one another when calls from one network have to be routed to another.<\/p>\n
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is expected to implement new call termination rates on 1 April 2014, however, both Vodacom and MTN have initiated court proceedings against Icasa.<\/p>\n
Cell C and Telkom\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It is not clear yet whether the smaller operators including Telkom and Cell C will have appetite for another round of price competition.<\/p>\n Telkom said that the new termination rates would \u201csubstantially contribute to reducing the cost of communication and the consumer will be the biggest beneficiary\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTelkom will pass on reductions to consumers and will communicate these savings once it has fully assessed the impact of the regulations,\u201d the group said after Icasa\u2019s announcement in February.<\/p>\n Cell C\u2019s chief financial officer,\u00a0Robert Pasley<\/a>, told Techcentral that \u201cCell C\u2019s rates are already very competitive, so consumers shouldn\u2019t expect dramatic price reductions\u201d.<\/p>\n Cell C said in an official statement that the new rates will promote and foster a more balanced and competitive mobile industry to the benefit of consumers.<\/p>\n \u201cBy increasing its share of the market and putting further pressure on the dominant competitors, Cell C is confident it can drive access to more affordable communications for all South Africans, even those not on its network,\u201d Cell C said.<\/p>\n MTN South Africa CEO Zunaid Bulbulia agrees with Dabengwa’s sentiment, and questioned how low the smaller operators can afford to go in order to maintain some semblance of profit.<\/p>\n He said that the market share for MTN’s SA operation\u00a0has remained stable at around 34%-35%. He noted that the group had added 700,000 subscribers in the last quarter of 2013.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, the guidance\u00a0in 2014 is for a net addition of 2 million SA\u00a0subscribers.<\/p>\n MTN CEO warns \u201cdestructive\u201d rivals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n MTN mum on SA job cuts<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n MTN SA earnings disappoint<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n MTN, Telkom Mobile network sharing deal here soon: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on MTN<\/h3>\n