SNO has date for eagerly awaited launch
At least it should do. But not with all its services at once. And the press conference to announce the launch is scheduled to last only 30 minutes — which, after five years of waiting, seems a very brief time to perform something of such monumental importance to the country.
News that action is finally happening came on Friday, when the SNO sent out invitations to “this important moment in our voyage” to establish “a vibrant telecommunications environment for SA”.
Fittingly for the hi-tech sector’s longest-running soap opera, the event will be held at Kyalami’s Theatre on the Track.
MD Ajay Pandey was unavailable for comment, but a source confirmed the event “will be the launch of the wholesale services”.
The saga began in November 2001, when state-owned Transnet and Eskom were named as the basis of the new operator being created to tackle Telkom.
Even now the final plans are still being thrashed out, with the public enterprises department deciding that a network set up by Eskom will be leased to the SNO rather than sold to it outright.
Eskom’s network will remain state-owned and be leased to the SNO at cost plus 4%.
On Friday the SNO issued a statement saying it had signed an agreement with the public enterprises department that would give it access to the national high- capacity network created by Eskom and Transnet.
The SNO has already paid R256m for a high-capacity fibre-optic network run by Transnet in the heart of the major cities.
The SNO’s website has been promising the launch of its international wholesale services by the end of August, and to offer telecommunications services directly to large companies by the end of the year. Consumers will have to wait until the first quarter of next year for any services targeting domestic users.
The launch on August 31 is probably the first deadline the SNO has met.
Its wholesale services will target the cellular network operators, internet service providers and value-added network service providers — the private companies that carry voice and data traffic for big businesses.
They will be able to run their services across the SNO’s network, freeing them from their much- disliked dependency on Telkom. The SNO is promising them a “better quality of service and greater value for money than ever before”.
The largest stakeholder in the SNO is India’s VSNL, which boasts a staggering 130 years of experience in international connectivity.
VSNL handles about 9-million minutes of international calls every day in 236 countries.
The SNO will also offer a national leased-line service, giving telecoms operators and large companies high-speed voice and data services on bandwidth dedicated to each customer.
In preparation for the SNO’s arrival, Telkom has filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, saying that increased competition is threatening its bottom line. New competition might force Telkom to lower its fees and lose market share. It could also see the defection of some staff to the SNO.
Another risk is that government, which contributes 9% of Telkom’s fixed-line income, may transfer some or all of its business to the SNO, the document says.
Denis Smit, MD of local research house BMI-TechKnowledge, says Telkom is expecting to lose about 20% of its market share.
Smit says the SNO’s prospects are still “excellent”, despite the lengthy delay in its arrival.
“The business case for the SNO is fundamentally sound,” he says.
“Pent-up demand is huge, and the opportunity for the SNO to secure greater than 15% of the market in three to four years is clearly possible.”
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