The impact of the second national operator (SNO), Neotel, was likely to be felt by Christmas, said South African Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
Answering a question from African National Congress MP Elliott Sibiya in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday afternoon — who asked when the SNO would become operational — she noted that it had already been launched at the end of August.
However, the minister noted that the prices to be offered by Neotel were “not yet available” as these had to be approved by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) in line with Commonwealth regulations.
She was optimistic that greater competition would “hopefully bring prices down”.
Asked if Neotel could “piggy back” on the infrastructure of Telkom — until now the monopoly in the land-line telephony market — she said it was, indeed, able to use Telkom’s telecoms facilities for two years in terms of a facilities-leasing agreement. Thereafter there will be commercial agreements in terms of Icasa regulations. — I-Net Bridge