Speaking to industry executives it is clear that most players in the SA internet market have been in discussion with one another and that a range of buyouts, alliances or partnerships are likely within the coming weeks and months. There may be more news on this front this week. There are others, though, who could also enter the market more aggressively, including Independent Newspapers, Naspers, Intekom and Vodacom. Internet Africa is well ahead in the race to connect South Africans to the net. But raw traffic and connectivity numbers are not the sole story.
Traffic needs to be sorted by a number of factors.
And traffic may not correlate with revenue - you may have a high traffic site but have little revenue to show for it. You may even be tops in traffic but smaller sites are more talked about and have a higher media profile. They could have even knocked you out of the market in terms of online commerce recorded through the site. Bill Gates understands that in the internet market, second prize is nowhere. The same is likely to apply in South Africa.