Neotel continues to prepare for war
NEOTEL added another distribution channel to its arsenal in a bid to bring its telephony and Internet services to South Africans as a viable alternative to the incumbent, Telkom.
Yesterday, Vox Telecom and second network operator Neotel signed a consumer distribution channel agreement.
This makes Vox the fourth dedicated retail channel for Neotel’s products. The other three are Postnet and Altech Autopage Cellular (for consumers, and Samsung MIA Telecoms for small businesses).
Mukul Sharma, the head of Neotel’s consumer unit, said: “It is important that we have reliable and professional representation across the country, particularly where we have network coverage; by accessing the Vox Telecom dealer channel, we are able to reach even more consumers.”
Yesterday’s announcement was the second phase in the partnership between Vox and Neotel.
In October, Vox said it had appointed Neotel as its preferred network supplier in a R250-million long-term contract.
Following an announcement of Neotel’s R8-billion funding agreement with several financial institutions, home users of the company’s service went on the radio airwaves yesterday to voice their discontent.
A programme on a talk radio station was flooded with messages from people who were unhappy about Neotel’s product quality and service levels.
While the company has been unable to meet the 25000 requests it has received for the consumer package, its latest move promises to create an even further demand.
Brian Nielson, BMI-T research director, was asked to test out the equipment. He said: “The technology worked well, but that is not to say that the same will be the case when they have a wider rollout. They will now be able to roll out to tens of thousands of people.”
In May, the company launched with only 25 base stations, and now has more than 100 base stations.
Even so, it has only managed to draw customers “in the thousands” rather than the tens of thousands.
Sharma said the company would be able to cover the four major metropolitan areas — Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria — by the end of next year. But until then, he expected that there would be growing pains as customers phoned in their complaints.
“There will always be complaints that arise from any service providers, and we take them very seriously, responding to them immediately. But we haven’t found anything fundamentally wrong with our products and services,” Sharma said.
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