Neotel on a roll
Neotel is starting to gain ground in the consumer and small business market, signing up around 150 new NeoConnect and NeoFlex subscribers per day. This growth is significant for any new entrant in the market, but it would have been far higher if Neotel had more extensive network coverage.
Neotel network
Neotel currently has over 100 active CDMA towers, but the company missed its own target of 200 towers by March 2009. Network expansion is however easier said than done.
According to Mukul Sharma, executive head of the consumer business unit at Neotel, high-site acquisition remains a serious problem in rolling out a wireless network. This is something echoed by other wireless operators such as iBurst, which says that environmental approval and other related issues cause delays and even the prevention of tower construction in certain areas.
While Neotel has partnered with some of the cellular and wireless providers to share high-sites, but Sharma said that they did not have as much success as they hoped for when it comes to sharing infrastructure, partly because of current high-site locations.
Sharma said that Neotel had done extensive network planning which means that its towers will have to be in very specific areas to serve their potential clients as best they can. This in turn means that only some of the existing cellular sites are in suitable locations. Another issue that takes time is for Neotel to get adequate backhaul capacity – typically in the forum of fibre infrastructure – to their CDMA towers before switching them on.
Sharma is however confident that things are about to change for the better. Neotel has already constructed much of the backhaul infrastructure to connect its new wireless sites, and a new Environmental Approval policy may make it much easier for wireless providers to roll out wireless networks.
Currently any provider who wants to add their wireless equipment to an existing high-site, typically a rooftop or cellphone tower, must get environmental approval despite the fact that another provider has already received approval for that site. This is about to change, says Sharma.
The new legislation will mean that any new provider will be able to add their wireless equipment to a high-site which has gained approval by another provider without the need of another environmental assessment. This will make high-site acquisition and wireless network construction rollout much easier and faster.
New cities to be covered
Neotel is currently focusing on Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban with its network rollout, but will soon start to expand to other areas. Sharma said that the following areas, in no specific order, will be where Neotel established a CDMA footprint next: Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Pietermaritzburg, Vereeniging and Krugersdorp.
Sharma said that Neotel was already making good progress in areas like Krugersdorp, and that it is keen to also target areas like Nelspruit should adequate backhaul capacity not prove problematic.
Neotel network rollout discussion
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