The long-awaited second national operator (SNO) expects to be licensed within the next few months and should be ready for business before the end of this year.
Karl Socikwa, SNO spokesman and chairman of the SNO shareholders' steering committee, says that following extensive work by the shareholders, the SNO's business plan has been prepared for submission to the regulator, and its shareholders' agreement will also be in place soon.
The SNO is an entity that comprises a 15% shareholding for each of Transtel and Eskom Enterprises, a 19% shareholding for empowerment partner Nexus Connexion and a 51% strategic equity shareholding, of which 26% is held by Tata Africa and 12.5% each by CommuniTel and Two Consortium.
"A plan on how the telecommunications activities and businesses of Transtel and Eskom Telecoms will be integrated into the SNO is in the process of being finalised, and together with the envisaged capital and funding structure for the SNO will be included in the body of documents that will be submitted to the regulator prior to its licence deliberations," he says.
"All the shareholders have been working around the clock to prepare for the new operator, as the marriage of the Transtel and Eskom infrastructure with the skills of the other shareholders, including Tata's international experience in telecommunications, should quickly create real competition."
Socikwa says the liberalisation of the market in February, particularly the legalisation of voice over Internet Protocol, has highlighted the country's need for true infrastructure competition.
"The value-added network service provider market is in desperate need of alternative, cost-effective facilities," he says.
"The SNO will be going head-to-head with Telkom, one of the most entrenched telecommunications monopolies in the world, so we will need to be adaptable, flexible and responsive to customer needs, and we certainly believe we are up to this challenge."
He believes the SNO can positively contribute to government's goal of reducing the cost of doing business in SA, while ensuring the benefits extend to the second economy, which is similarly constrained by high telecommunications costs.
"SA has had to wait a long time for these benefits, but the people can be reassured that the long wait is finally almost over," says Socikwa.
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