The SNO received its PSTS license on the 9th of December 2005 from ICASA, allowing it to provide a full range of telecoms services in the South African market and enabling them to effectively compete directly with Telkom.

The SNO said earlier this month that it will be launching international wholesale services at the end of August, and that enterprise services should follow by the end of this year.

Services aimed at smaller businesses and residential customers should become available in the first part of 2007.

Although both the SNO and Telkom have publicly stated that they do not want a price war, prices are likely to drop simply by virtue of the introduction of competition.

Without competitive pricing the SNO is unlikely to gain widespread support, which means that whilst both parties are avoiding direct combat a tug-of-war of sorts should ensue in the pricing arena.

The event in Kyalami today is described as a celebration of ‘critical milestones’ in the SNO’s ‘journey’, but Telkom’s competitor is tight lipped as to exactly what their big announcement will be.

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