Interesting article.
Article By: Tiisetso Motsoeneng
Neotel, a telecoms firm hyped to break Telkom's dominance in the fixed phone line market, said on Thursday that demand for its consumer offerings was "much better than expected".
"I can tell you that demand for our service is much better than expected. People are hungry for new services," Zinhle Modiselle told I-Net Bridge in a phone interview.
Neotel, which previously said it planned to sign up between 50 000 and 60 000 new customers within the first year of the launch of its consumer product, NeoConnect, on Thursday launched the product in Durban – the fifth metropolis in which it has launched, after first launching in Johannesburg in May.
Modiselle declined to provide the number of consumers Neotel has signed so far, only saying "We're happy with the response".
However, Neotel's network coverage remains a challenge, with coverage in KwaZulu-Natal limited to the greater Durban area. Modiselle said the company was aggressively tackling the problem as network coverage in Gauteng almost doubled since May.
NeoConnet is the firm's all-in-one consumer service that allows the consumer to access the internet, make voice calls and send and receive SMSs offering five NeoConnect Prime packages and two NeoConnect Lite packages.
Neotel was launched in the third quarter of 2006, in a move designed to break Telkom's monopoly in the fixed phone market.
"The impact of the organisation redefining the telecommunications industry is becoming very evident," said Ajay Pandey, MD and CEO of Neotel in a statement.
Neotel said it is developing further products which are directly tailored to address needs of consumers, and will be launching them next year, which will be in addition to the rollout of WiMax broadband consumer services.