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SPTC LEFT WITH E135M STOCK

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MBABANE – As Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) turns the page on its fixed mobile network, the parastatal is now selling its E135 million worth of stock.
This figure was presented to Cabinet by SPTC management recently.


Petros Dlamini, SPTC’s Managing Director, said the parastatal had already sold part of the stock to telecommunication companies in Malawi and Tanzania.
The equipment was being sold at the market price.
The stock included such items as 100 000 Fixedfone components.


An additional 50 000 had already been sold to the public before the shutdown of the service last year.
SPTC sold the Fixedfone sets at E240 each and made E12 million from selling these devices.
The company also had stock of 40 000 cellphones in the warehouse.


These were gadgets which were being sold to customers under the ONE brand.
They were being sold at prices ranging from E300 to E5 500.
There were also 10 000 mobile dongles and 50 000 SIM cards.


SPTC had also purchased 300 HP branded laptops which were to be sold as a package with the mobile dongle.
The stock had been procured as part of the re-launched Ultimate Home Products.
Dlamini said the company was making a loss though, from the sale, because it was difficult to sell at the initially anticipated premium value, which would have been the price for selling to SPTC customers. 
The stock became obsolete following a long-standing Joint Venture Agreement, wrangle between SPTC and Swazi MTN.


The stock, kept at a warehouse in Matsapha, was written off following a court order that compelled SPTC to switch off the mobile component of its Next Generation Network.
Previous reports stated that the telecommunications company stood to lose over E600 million following the shutdown of its mobile network.
This followed that SPTC spent about E500 million purchasing and setting up the network infrastructure.


The Next Generation Network (NGN) equipment was sourced from China in 2006. Generally, the NGN is a network that functions to transport all information and services (voice, data, and all sorts of media such as video) by encapsulating these into packets, similar to those used for the Internet.
NGNs are commonly built around the Internet Protocol, and therefore, the term IP is sometimes used to describe the transformation toward NGN.
Even though the company had disposed of a significant amount of stock, when the warehouse was visited recently, hundreds of boxes of equipment were found piled up from the floor to the roof. The boxes were sealed. Dlamini, the MD said the future of SPTC was in the hands of the shareholders.


He said the company had turned the page with its fixed mobile telephony services.
“We carried a number of exciting products for our customers but the prevailing scenario prevented us from availing them to our customers,” he said.
He said the company had engaged in a process to compute the value of the items in its stock and further quantify the value of the network that was closed down.
Dlamini said results of the assessment would be given to the ministry of ICT shortly.


He also said the company would continue to engage Swazi MTN and SPTC shareholders to try and find a lasting solution to this issue.
SPTC’s present staff complement is just over 800.
There were about 150 permanent and casual employees, as well as 20 vehicles leased, as a result of the commissioning by the company, of the mobile components of its network.

 

 

Comments (5 posted):

Richard remy dlamini on 23/02/2014 07:12:39
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This monopoly is killing us,kuyoze kubenini MTN adla imali yemaswati?
aphelele on 23/02/2014 08:35:44
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lafa elihle kakhulu. SPTC is being punished here. kantsi ikuphi ledemocracy. isekhabobani. God gelp us Swazis ( tears streaming)
Politics Of The Stomach on 23/02/2014 14:40:41
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All SPTC needs to do is donate some shares to certain important people and institutions and their troubles will disappear. If they don't do that their problems will continue until the whole parastatal shuts down and then someone from nowhere will come buy the company for peanuts. The company must realize this has become a 'political' problem and it needs a 'political' solution which will involve a small donation of shares to prove goodwill.
wandile M Magongo on 23/02/2014 16:26:00
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only him on the throne knows. Salo sibeka kuye litsemba letfu singemaswati.
mcoli sishlongo on 23/02/2014 18:07:13
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uyasgcilata mtn laswatini

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