/ 11 May 1999

NEXTCOM TO USE BLACK FIRMS

EMPOWERMENT group NextCom, which is hoping to win the third cellular network licence, said Monday that, if successful, it will give business to small and medium-sized black contractors. These contractors, it said, will be responsible for building base stations across the country to run the network under an empowerment structure — Prov-Con. Sifiso Pretorius, chief exective officer of Prov-Con, said “We will have contractors on hand to take on work in every part of the country — from Guguletu to kwaNdbele.”