Limpopo Business 2017-18 edition

PROFILE
The Vodacom Limpopo team: from left to right: Ishmael Mathinya, Executive Head of Division Operations
Limpopo; Busi Dlamini, Senior Manager EBU Limpopo; Chris Lazarus, Managing Executive Limpopo
Region; and Qiniso Nyathi, Executive Head of Division CBU Limpopo.
In 2016 alone the region upgraded more than 250
3G towers, and also doubled its 4G footprint, in one
year to 72% of the population. In the 2018 financial
year, the region will upgrade more than 200 3G
towers leading to a guaranteed increase in data
connectivity of at least 2Mbps per user. As part of
Vodacom’s commitment to accelerating investment
in deep rural areas, 38 sites have been earmarked
to be upgraded at a cost of more than R23-million.
Polokwane city as well as other towns and informal
areas now enjoy 4G connectivity.
These technical rollouts have had a direct impact
on the business environment in Limpopo. Senior
Manager Enterprise Business Unit Limpopo, Busi
Dlamini explains how business owners benefit from
partnerships with Vodacom: "Our satisfied customers,
especially within the SMME sector, bear testament
to significant growth in their business and that
this is directly attributed to reduced communications
costs and tailored business solutions that have
aided them to function optimally."
The EBU itself has recorded good growth and the
unit's products and solutions are gaining momentum
within the region. Busi attributes this positive
uplift to "our robust and agile business offerings
and – most importantly – our value proposition to
our customers and partners".
Overall, Chris notes that, "Data has exploded in
Limpopo with places like Lephalale counting among
the top data towns in SA while at the same time
managing to grow demand for voice. Our investment
in Fibre has continued in various parts of the
province and we remain the first Vodacom region
to have deployed Fibre using an overhang methodology.
Given that we own these poles, we this
year started to use them to advertise subject to
municipal approvals.
"Growth in voice usage can be attributed to our
Just4You proposition, which provides customers
with relevant, personalised prices. In fact, Limpopo
is the number-one region in this space. There is
no doubt that Limpopo’s above-median growth
in market share.”
Another critical contributor to this success is the determination
of employees. Says Chris: "An ethos that
stands true with many of us at Vodacom Limpopo is
to ensure that our province does not come second
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LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2017/18