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May 27 2012 11:21
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Johannesburg - South Africa's Second Network Operator (SNO), which will compete with Telkom on the provision of fixed line telecommunications services, plans to launch in the second half of 2006.
However, it said on Monday that certain services might be able to be provided earlier.
The SNO would roll-out its services to different customer segments over time as the SNO continued to grow, it added.
The SNO consortium, which is led by the Indian group Tata and includes Transtel and Esitel, the telecommunications arms of parastatals Transnet and Eskom, said it was delighted to receive the switched telecommunications service (PSTS) licence on Friday from Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), allowing it to provide a full range of telecoms
services in the South African market.
"Since signing the SNO Shareholders Agreement in August, the SNO has been actively engaged in defining its approach to the South African market, (which is now encapsulated in the SNO business plan).
"The business plan draws together the knowledge of the South African market through Transtel and Esitel together with international best practice from Tata/VSNL.
"The business plan is designed to build a solid foundation for the SNO, which will become one of South Africa's largest companies.
"The SNO will commence the build out of its own next generation network that will provide the SNO customers with world-class quality, reliability and efficiency that is competitive with best practice in the world today.
"The network shall be built with both convergence and fixed mobile possibilities for the near future. The SNO plans to launch in the second half of 2006, though certain services may be able to be provided earlier," the SNO.
It added that it would focus on the service delivery to its customers, reliability of its network and the provision of new products and services into the market.
"It's aim is to be the telecom partner of choice for its customers.
Customers may expect to see an emphasis on customer service and affordability. They shall no longer be limited in the bandwidth they can access. The SNO shall roll-out its services to different customer segments over time as the SNO grows."