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Wireless broadband operator iBurst is reducing its headcount by about 20% as part of a restructuring meant to cut costs and improve efficiencies.
TechCentral understands that about 60 or 70 employees are affected by the cuts, which are being done through a voluntary retrenchment process.
“We’ve been through this restructuring which means we need fewer people,” says iBurst CEO Jannie van Zyl, pictured. The company, which is part-owned by Vodacom, is looking for ways to operate more efficiently and may even outsource some components of its business, including its call centre operation.
Van Zyl says iBurst hopes the first phase of the retrenchment process will be completed by this Friday, 23 October. The company will know by then how many employees have applied for voluntary retrenchment. However, Van Zyl says he is confident there won’t be a need for any forced retrenchments.
The retrenchment packages on offer are good. The law requires companies to compensate staff for one week of every year they’ve worked, Van Zyl says. iBurst, however, is offering its staff four weeks per year worked.
iBurst management has reserved the right to decline to accept applications for retrenchment to ensure it doesn’t lose any critical skills.
As part of the restructuring spearheaded by Van Zyl, who took the reins in July from former MD Alan Knott-Craig, iBurst plans to focus more aggressively on offering its products through third-party service providers.
It will also position itself as a partner to other service providers, where it will provide them with access to back-end services like white-labelled billing.
In addition, iBurst plans to provide telecoms infrastructure services, like backhaul transit facilities, to companies that want to build their own wireless access networks.
The company announced in August that it would focus more heavily on the small and medium enterprise market. But Van Zyl denies market talk that iBurst is planning to exit the consumer market to focus on business customers.
“We value the consumer market very highly and want to double the number of these subscribers we have in the next 18 months,” he says.
“iBurst is not closing down or setting itself up for Vodacom to buy it or any of the other rumours I’ve heard in the market recently.” — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral
