Michael Jordaan, investor in wireless broadband upstart Rain, said on Tuesday that consolidation in South Africa's telecoms market is inevitable.
“It is a logical alternative to simply selling to MTN and would also be consistent with the pro-competitive policies of government. Although MTN had said it was not after exclusivity in the talks, company insiders said they felt that having Rain involved in the discussions would unnecessarily complicate what would already be a difficult deal to get done. Jordaan, speaking to webinar host Alishia Seckam, said he is unable to comment on why Rain’s talks with Telkom didn’t lead to a transaction.
Consolidation within South Africa's telecommunications industry is likely and in line with global trends, predicts Montegray Capital founder and CEO Michael ...
During the opt-in bidding phase on March 8, Rain secured two 10 MHz slots in the 700 MHz band and 10 MHz in the 2 600 MHz band for R1.15-billion. I mean, you want your cell phone to work everywhere,” he points out, noting that in most of the markets in the world, there are two or three big players. “We were delighted that so much spectrum was being made available. “The advantage of that is we are going to be able to cover much more of South “We think consolidation in the telecommunications industry is going to happen,” Jordaan avers, adding that smaller players like Telkom, Cell C and Rain will have to make a plan to be able to compete against the big two. [financial](/topic/financial) [services](/topic/services) group PSG Think Big Series webinar on Tuesday, he said that South [Africa](/topic/africa) had a very strong telecommunications duopoly in MTN and Vodacom.