The shareholders in South Africa’s second national operator (SNO) on Monday signed a shareholders’ agreement, pursuant to the issuance of the public switched telecommunication service (PSTS) licence by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).
The SNO update comes a month after Deputy Minister of Communications Roy Padayachee said the licensing of Telkom’s rival was looming.
In addition to the agreement, the investors’ steering committee — under the chairpersonship of Transtel CEO Karl Socikwa — has completed a business plan.
Icasa is anticipated to engage the SNO in determining the terms of the licence.
“Bringing together six major entities with sometimes fundamentally divergent points of view was never going to be easy. But we’ve done it,” Socikwa said.
“We now have a robust business plan, a signed shareholders’ agreement, are in advanced integration discussions and are ready to proceed to the next phase.”
The PSTS licence will allow the newcomer, controlled by Tata Africa of India, to offer a range of telecommunications services such as those currently offered by Telkom, including voice, data and limited-mobility access.
Tata — through VSNL — owns a 26% stake in the SNO, while Two Consortium and CommuniTel each hold 12,5%. The three companies are shareholders in SepCo, which in turn controls 51% in the newcomer, while empowerment firm Nexus Connexion has a 19% shareholding and state-owned enterprises Eskom (Esitel) and Transnet (Transtel) entities each have 13% in the operator.
Tata Africa is the investment arm of Tata Group — the VSNL parent company — in South Africa. The New York-listed VSNL has businesses in several countries, including Sri Lanka and Nepal. — I-Net Bridge