Frankly, we the Average Joes are tired of being messed about; especially by the likes of Neotel. Chances that Neotel is going to succeed in the South African telecoms market, especially in the residential/consumer market, are becoming slimmer by the day. In fact, ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) is of the opinion that Neotel is heading down the same road as Sentech, which has horribly failed in the residential market due to various reasons, of which intense competition is one. We feel that like Sentech, Neotel took too long to get off the ground when they had ample opportunity to do so, and when they finally managed to get off the ground, the messed it all up with shocking service levels, etc. It seems that Neotel has been trying to mimic Telkom, but to do so from a non-dominating market position, especially in a market that’s heating up due to intense competition is suicidal to say the least. 

In other words, given the above, it’s clear that Neotel is doomed to failure except if by some miracle they manage to win over the hearts and minds of us Average Joes in South Africa. Chances of that happening are slim however.

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) has warned Neotel time and time again, but like Screamer Telecoms, they’ve so far largely chosen to ignore us. We hope that Neotel shareholders have deep pockets, because Neotel is certainly going to need additional funding in the months to come.