The proposed acquisition of Neotel by Vodacom, currently under the spotlight at regulator hearings, will not result in retrenchments.
This is according to Neotel legal counsel Steven Budlender, who fielded questions from interested parties attending the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA's) public hearings today.
The concern comes amid a retrenchment wave that swept the telecoms industry in the latter part of last year, with news emerging of job cuts at MTN, Telkom and Cell C.
Now concerns have arisen that, should Vodacom be given the green light to acquire Neotel for R7 billion as proposed, more job cuts would follow.
Budlender today reassured attendees that Neotel and Vodacom would, however, not be joining the wave in this instance. "We have given the Competition Commission an unequivocal undertaking that there will be no forced retrenchments should the deal go through."
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub added that, on the contrary, the deal would give rise to more jobs. "Neotel's and Vodacom's businesses really do not overlap in any meaningful way. Where they do, the overlap is minor.
"[The purchase of Neotel, should it be approved] will mean job creation - not job losses. The transaction is going to give us increased fixed penetration and necessitate significant investment on the back of bigger fibre investment.
"This will give rise to the need for more jobs, specifically to facilitate delivery in line with the rapid increase in fibre that we would like to do through the Neotel vehicle."
With 2014 seeing the biggest ever drop in interconnect rates, fears emerged in September that this may in future lead to further retrenchments in the telecoms sector, which was by that time already haemorrhaging jobs.
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