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Neotel (Pty) Ltd.
Type	Private company[1]
Founded	Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006
Headquarters	Woodmead, South Africa
Key people	Ajay Pandey, Managing Director
Industry	Communications Services
Slogan	The Journey Starts Here
Website	www.neotel.co.za

Neotel (Pty) Ltd., previously SNO Telecommunications, is the much anticipated second national operator (SNO) for fixed line telecommunication services in South Africa. It was unveiled on 31 August 2006 in Kyalami in northern Johannesburg. Neotel is South Africa's first direct telecommunications competitor to the current telecommunications parastatal, Telkom.

The new company will roll out business services in December 2006 and public services in April 2007. International Transit services for wholesale customers are already available^[2][3]. They plan to use wireless broadband technologies, amongst others, which not only allows data transfers but also voice in the form of VOIP^[4].

The arrival of a competitor is said to bring competitive pricing in terms of low speed internet costs (standard 56k modem), as well as for broadband^[5]. For many years South Africa has had only one true telecommunications service, Telkom, which is partly government owned and partly private owned, but now for the first time people will have a choice of telecommunication services.

Contents 1 History 2 Current Consortium 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

In 2001, an amendment to the Telecommunications Act was made that allowed for the creation of a competitor to South Africa's largest telecommunications operator, Telkom^[6]. The initial shareholders of the Second National Operator (SNO) were identified as Eskom and Transnet^[7]. In early 2002, bidding started for the remaining stakes in the SNO^[8]. The Shareholder's agreement was signed on 15 August 2005^[9]. Following the signing, the licence terms and conditions were finalized in March 2006, and the company officially launched in August 2006^[10].

Neotel currently consists of the following consortiums^[11]:

• Eskom (15%)
• Transnet (15%),
• Nexus Communications (19%),
• Communitel (12.5%),
• Two Consortium (12.5%),
• VSNL/Tata Group (26%)

• Hellkom
• MyADSL
• Telkom (South Africa)

1. ^ "Neotel FAQ", retrieved October 1, 2006
2. ^ "Neotel gives Telkom taste of competition" by Lesley Stones, Businessday, September 1, 2006, retrieved September 25, 2006
3. ^ "Say hello to Neotel, SA's second national operator" by Hila Bouzaglou and I-Net Bridge, Mail & Guardian Online, August 31, 2006, retrieved September 25, 2006
4. ^ Neotel website, retrieved September 25, 2006
5. ^ "Neotel: ‘Telecoms prices should be 25% of what it is now’" by MyADSL, September 7, 2006 retrieved September 25, 2006
6. ^ "Telecoms bill passed but SNO cloud hangs" by Lynda Loxton and Reuters, Business Report, November 17, 2001, retrieved September 25, 2006
7. ^ "Transtel, Eskom will be Telkom competition, says Radebe", by ITWeb, August 11, 2000, retrieved September 25, 2006
8. ^ "ITA sets SNO bidders to work", by Phillip de Wet, ITWeb, May 27, 2002, retrieved September 25, 2006
9. ^ "Second network operation to launch this month" by Helene Le Roux , Creamer Media's Engineering News, August 25, 2006, retrieved September 25, 2006
10. ^ "The SNO is finally here", by Jackie Mackenzie, business.iafrica.com, August 31, 2006, retrieved September 25, 2006
11. ^ "SNO shareholding complete", by Rodney Weideman, ITWeb, February 14, 2005, retrieved September 25, 2006

• Official Website