Vodacom

Vodacom

Type	Public
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1994
Headquarters	South Africa
Key people	Pieter Uys, CEO
Products	GSM-related products Internet services
Website	www.vodacom.co.za

Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the 1st cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 35 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2008 was 48.178 billion South African Rand. It was owned on a 50:50 basis by the South African telecommunications group Telkom and the British mobile phone operator Vodafone. On 6 November 2008 Vodafone announced that it had agreed to increase its stake to 65%, and Telkom said that it would spin off its remaining holding by listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. On April 1 2011, Vodacom officially unveiled its new change in branding from blue to red. This is in keeping with its UK parent company, Vodafone.

Vodacom provides coverage to Mount Kilimanjaro, which used to make it the highest point in the world to be covered by GSM. It no longer is, as China Mobile now provides coverage at the top of Mt. Everest, the highest point in the world. Vodacom was aided by its optimistic advertisements at the early stages of the democratic South Africa, this includes the yebo gogo campaign which is still in effect today in South Africa. Vodacom is the leading cellular network in South Africa with an estimated market share of 58% and more than 23 million customers.

Technology

Vodacom was also the 1st provider to deploy a 3G (3rd generation) or UMTS network in South Africa and is also offering HSPA+ 21.1 Mbit/s and HSUPA (2100 MHz). Vodacom is also offering 42 Mbit/s on a trial basis, and should be commercially available in 2011. In terms of other technology Vodacom has its hand in Wi-Fi,WiMAX and LTE. Vodacom to date is upgrading the whole South African system to introduce these new technologies.

Sports sponsorship

Vodacom is a sponsor of South African sports. In provincial rugby union, they are the sponsors of the Pretoria-based Vodacom Blue Bulls.

In soccer they sponsor two clubs in the Premier Soccer League, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. They also sponsor the South African Football Association and the national teams Bafana Bafana (men), Amajita (under 20's), and previously Banyana Banyana (women). However, MTN was the sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa.

Vodacom also owns the naming rights to several stadiums, among them Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein and Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Controversies

On May 17, 2009, a court dismissed a joint COSATU and ICASA application to stop Vodacom's JSE listing. Chegoane Mabelane, the South African article writer and prominent supporter of both African National Congress and its alliance; in one of his articles stated that the interdict to stop listing was fair.

In January 2010 the Sunday Times alleged that Alan Knott-Craig, former Vodacom CEO, helped his son with business ventures using Vodacom resources. He also allegedly awarded a multi-million-rand contract to a marketing and advertising company run by family members.

External links

• Corporate Website