Vodacom this week insisted its plan to outsource some of its maintenance operations will not lead to redundancies, a move aimed at warding off potential retaliation by unions.
Sources cited by Reuters on Tuesday claimed that Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Neotel were among the companies in the running for a three-year maintenance contract due to start on 1 November.
"Vodacom is investigating the possibility of consolidating existing outsourced maintenance contracts and potentially outsourcing some of our field maintenance activities," said Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman, in the Reuters report.
"There would be no job losses if the envisaged changes go ahead," he said.
According to a letter sent to Vodacom by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) that was seen by Reuters, the operator did not consult with CWU members when it began drawing up its outsourcing plan.
The decision comes at a difficult time for operator/union relations.
CWU members employed by Vodacom rival MTN have been on strike since the end of May over wages.
According to South Africa’s Times newspaper, some MTN customers are receiving what they claim are exorbitant bills but cannot get through to customer services to discuss them. Grievances taken to social media go unanswered.
It marks an ignominious start for MTN South Africa’s new CEO Mteto Nyati, who took over from Ahmad Farroukh on Monday after the latter resigned last week.
Nyati joined MTN as group chief enterprise officer in October 2014.
"We believe the appointment of a leader of Nyati’s calibre and competencies will greatly enhance our efforts to strengthen the confidence of our customers and reinvigorate our people," said Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN Group CEO, in a statement.
Meanwhile Farroukh, who said his departure was unavoidable due to personal and family reasons, has since been named CEO of Saudi Arabian mobile operator Mobily.
