Telecoms Consolidation Risks Sending South Africa Backwards

Anti-competitive consolidation in the local ICT (Information & Communications Technology) sector is a major threat to business and consumers who risk being stripped of the hard-won freedom to choose their telecoms provider.

From the dark days of the Telkom monopoly, legislative and regulatory victories saw South Africa emerge in the 2000s as a bastion of free ICT competition.

In 2023, business communication and managed services provider ICTGlobe.com is sounding a warning that the country’s smaller voice and data operators are being devoured by large players at an alarming rate.

“Lacklustre economic growth, telecoms market maturity and pressure on margins has seen dozens of ICT SMEs folding or being rolled into bigger operators. That’s tremendously bad for both business and end consumers who remain under pressure and need greater, not less, competition to deliver affordable voice and data services,” says Rad Jankovic, co-CEO ICTGlobe.com.

With growth in the SA Information and Communications Technology industry recently measured at just 0.3%, according to the latest State of the ICT Sector Report, ICTGlobe.com launched its Virtual Service Provider model as a way for smaller ICT firms to expand their product portfolio and stay in business, independently.

The model provides a combination of Platform, Software and Infrastructure-as-a-Service all provided in modular form and based on client needs.