Vodacom and Telkom sign roaming and facilities leasing agreement

Vodacom and Telkom have concluded a long-term, multi billion rand agreement whereby Telkom will obtain roaming and facilities leasing services from Vodacom with full effect from June 2019.

The terms of the agreement will allow Telkom customers to roam on Vodacom's 2G, 3G and 4G networks, with the added benefit of seamless handover technology. This will result in an enhanced roaming experience for Telkom’s customers as it will in future reduce the number of dropped calls as customers seamlessly move between networks.

Commenting on the announcement, Vodacom Group CEO, Shameel Joosub, said: “We are extremely pleased that Telkom has selected Vodacom as its strategic partner and we look forward to delivering on this long-term and mutually beneficial agreement. By switching its roaming agreement to Vodacom, Telkom will have access to South Africa’s best network with the country's widest population coverage, a testament to our accelerated rural coverage programme and our commitment to ensuring the sustainability of South Africa’s highly competitive telecommunications industry. Apart from the commercial benefit, this partnership between the country’s fastest growing networks will also result in reduced network deployment costs for Telkom and cost savings for Vodacom, ultimately contributing to the reduction of data prices in South Africa.”

Sipho Maseko, CEO of Telkom, says: “Seamless handover and 4G mobile technology are new additions to Telkom’s roaming agreement which will improve the customer experience on the Telkom network. The infrastructure sharing agreement will allow Telkom more efficient capital and operational expenditure.”

He adds: “It complements Telkom’s network rollout programme as Telkom remains committed to expanding its network. The agreement enables quicker site acquisition in the medium term. I am pleased we have concluded an agreement that enables us to improve our network efficiently.”

Telkom has had a roaming agreement in place with MTN since its inception nine years ago for 2G and 3G services. Telkom will conduct a phased transition from the current roaming agreement. This process will conclude in June 2019 when its contract with MTN expires.