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Johannesburg - South Africa's second national operator, launched officially on Thursday under the name Neotel - which means 'gift' - hopes to capture around 15% of the local market in the next three to four years, Managing Director Ajay Pandey said on Thursday.
He was speaking at the official launch of the company's new name and corporate image in Kyalami, north of Johannesburg, on Thursday.
Pandey said that his first job was to get the company ready to capture that share of the market.
Pandey outlined the planned rollout of telecommunication services based on leading-edge technologies and reiterated the company's promise to introduce initial services for consumers by March 2007.
Pandey said consumers are likely to see the impact of the new operator within six to eight weeks, saying Neotel has "a very attractive set of options and pricing." He declined to elaborate on pricing.
He said he was confident that the advent of competition would be seen not only in pricing, but also in customer service.
He said Neotel's products and services would be introduced in a phased manner, and products on offer would include data, voice, wireless and internet based products.
Pandey said that the company had a commercial relationship with Telkom and it had taken up infrastructure from Telkom which had enabled Neotel to launch some of its services.
Pandey outlined the planned rollout of telecommunication services based on leading-edge technologies and reiterated the company's promise to introduce initial services for consumers by March 2007.
He said Neotel has secured access to the relevant Eskom and Transnet infrastructure, including almost 10 000 kms of optical fibre backbone within metros and across the country and would offer a variety of fixed and wireless services.
"We anticipate a cumulative capital expenditure of more than R11bn in the first 10 years of our operation," he added.
The capital expenditure would be funded by a combination of debt and equity, and Neotel has been in discussions with various institutions, he noted.
He said since his appointment in December last year, the company had grown from a one man organisation to a 40 person outfit and has a target of 250 employees by March 2007.
He said the R11bn investment in the first ten years would fuel economic growth in South Africa. Neotel will also make a significant contribution to skills development in South Africa, with the introduction of next generation technology. Skills transfer from stakeholders and various training programmes including on the job and equipment training through vendors would ensure the augmentation of specialised skills in the country, he added.