Why are we still
waiting?
ADSL
South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 27 March
2007
Neotel’s
management must be asking the above question, since the company
is still waiting on ICASA to allocate the 800MHz frequency band
that’s needed to successfully enter the residential
market.
What seems to be the problem since Neotel
already obtained the frequency spectrum
required?
True but ‘…the 800MHz frequency
band to ensure that consumers benefited optimally from the
technologies,’ is still needed (Icasa yet to allocate 800MHZ
spectrum to Neotel, Mochiko, Business Report, 26 March 2007).
Also, ‘the spectrum will help Neotel to swiftly roll out
wireless voice services to individual customers, thus
circumventing Telkom's infrastructure (Icasa yet to allocate
800MHZ spectrum to Neotel, Mochiko, Business Report, 26 March
2007).
In other words, Neotel will be
stuck in first gear if the 800MHz frequency is not allocated in
time.
Didn’t ICASA comment as to when the 800MHz
frequency band would be assigned to
Neotel?
No. They only acknowledge that
they had received the relevant application from
Neotel.
When can we expect to see Neotel’s roll out
of voice services?
Very soon. ‘Neotel plans to roll
out voice services to the corporate market within the next
three months and to residential customers from June’ (Icasa yet
to allocate 800MHZ spectrum to Neotel, Mochiko, Business
Report, 26 March 2007).
In other words, residential
customers will have to place plans to hang up on Telkom, ‘on
hold’ for more or less the next 3 months.
Why would Neotel be interested in
‘…circumventing Telkom's
infrastructure’?
Neotel don’t want to be stuck in
a situation where Telkom calls all the shots.
‘Telkom controls telephone lines
in residential areas and offices, and the government is yet to
formulate a policy that will force the incumbent to lease the
lines to other operators’ (Icasa yet to allocate 800MHZ
spectrum to Neotel, Mochiko, Business Report, 26 March
2007).
In other words, Telkom will be
able to effectively stop other operators from leasing their
lines, while the relevant authorities that can stop them are
preparing themselves for a deep winter sleep. This is the
reason why Neotel needs the 800MHz frequency band
fast.
Any more news on Neotel’s preparations and
what they will offer?
Yes.
A short list of
preparations and what they will offer:
-
Choice
– ‘Neotel users
would have a choice of voice only or internet only,
as well as bundled voice and high-speed internet
services’ (Icasa yet to allocate 800MHZ spectrum to
Neotel, Mochiko, Business Report, 26 March
2007).
-
Geographic Number Portability
(GNP) – ‘The group's residential
rollout will be boosted by the implementation of
geographic number portability (GNP), which will
allow fixed-line customers to keep their numbers
while switching to other operators’ (Icasa yet to
allocate 800MHZ spectrum to Neotel, Mochiko,
Business Report, 26 March 2007).
-
Fibre optic
cables – Neotel ‘…is laying its
own fibre optic cables in major cities to
complement the 1 300km cable it bought from
Transnet’ (Icasa yet to allocate 800MHZ spectrum to
Neotel, Mochiko, Business Report, 26 March
2007.
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South
Africa) hopes ICASA allocates the 800MHz frequency band
to Neotel in time.
| 
