Neotel dismisses InfraCo speculation
Neotel and Infraco need to form a closely intertwined unit in order to provide the much needed competition to Telkom. But government’s slow progress with Infraco has been viewed as a possible reason for Neotel’s delay in providing services.
Various media reports surfaced regarding this matter, but so far the Second National Operator has remained firm that Infraco is not to blame for any delays.
Media Reports
Towards the end of last year Neotel was quoted as saying that Infraco was to blame for the service offering delays from the company. “It was a real show-stopper,” ITWeb quoted Neotel spokesperson Mala Suriah as saying.
Neotel said that they were ‘disappointed with the mis-quotes’ and Suriah even pointed out that she had ‘not had any interview with ITWeb’. An official statement from the company said that interactions and discussions regarding Infraco in no way hindered the progress of Neotel's network build and organizational build.
The company further reiterated that InfraCo is not influencing the company at operational level. Even Neotel managing director Ajay Pandey said that he believes the introduction of InfraCo was not necessarily bad news for Neotel.
Change of heart?
The latest comments from Neotel’s executive head of enterprise sales Stefano Mattiello once again opened this can of worms. Mattiello is quoted by ITWeb as saying that the “Department of Public Enterprises' inability to decide what to do with the telecoms infrastructure of Transnet and Eskom meant the SNO could not launch.”
“We had to wait for a resolution. Until that happened, it was difficult to decide whether we would have access to the state infrastructure, or whether we would have to build our own.”
This is in stark contrast to the company’s previous statements that Infraco in no way inhibited operations or hindered the progress of Neotel’s network build.
Neotel and Infraco falling out?
This is however not the first time that Neotel has attacked Infraco. Towards the end of last year Neotel launched a scathing attack on both the proposed Draft Electronic Communications Amendment Bill and the DPE’s Infraco.
Neotel made it clear that it feels that the proposed Bill is fundamentally flawed and would, if enacted in its present form, be inconsistent with fundamental Constitutional principles.
Neotel further submitted that there is no basis on which public entities like Infraco should be licensed in a different process from that which enterprises in the private sector are required to follow.
The company further argued that this amendment to the ECA may even inhibit the creation of a more competitive market which is what the initial Act tries to achieve.
“The policy underpinning the ECA is clearly aimed at increasing competition in the communications sector, at decreasing the involvement of the state in the provision of communications services and at increasing opportunities for the involvement of private enterprises in the sector,” Neotel said.
Official statement
Despite these media reports Neotel stands firm that Infraco is not the reason behind their delays.
“The statement published in ITWeb does not represent the views of Neotel,” said Fani Zulu, Neotel’s Executive Head of External Affairs.
“The licensing of the Second National Operator was delayed by, among other reasons, Government decision making process on the preferred approach with regards to the Eskom and Transnet assets. However, the launch of Neotel and its offering to the market was not delayed by Infraco.”
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