Several companies, including Vodacom and Sebenza, are installing Wi-Fi in taxis to gain access to millions of commuters. Picture: ESA ALEXANDER/SUNDAY TIMES
While Cartrack, founded in 2004, is gearing up to surpass 2-million customers in the current financial year, Netstar has lagged behind with 1.3-million subscribers, despite having entered the local market first. “We have an opportunity to claw back our market share by refocusing on the basics, making sure we put the customers at the centre of our operations and extracting efficiencies across Netstar’s business.”“In our OEM segment the partnership we launched with WeTaxi has the potential to reach 48,000 connected taxis, on which we make revenue on the ads and also when we fit a device,” he said.
“Netstar is a household name as the first company to launch stolen vehicle recovery technology into SA 27 years ago. We were led by our customers into Southeast Asia and Australia where the market is growing and penetration remains low with legislation driving the adoption of telematics,” said Fraser.