Gamos
16 Aug 2005, 10:37
Well, the heading sounds much more optomistic thant the truth, but this is good news none the less.
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=575
In a break-through for competition in telecommunications in South Africa, the six shareholders of the second network operator (SNO), have signed their shareholders agreement and say the business launch is about six to nine months away.
Asked if he was relieved to have signed the agreement, SNO consortium head Karl Socikwa, who is also the CEO of shareholder Transtel, said: “That’s an understatement.”
Socikwa said it had taken longer than expected given that there were six different shareholders with different perspectives and give and take was part of the negotiation process. But, they had succeeded in ironing out their differences.
Telkom lost its legal monopoly in May 2002 and the plan was to launch an SNO shortly thereafter. But, two stages of trying to find a strategic shareholder failed, and the Department of Communications eventually gave smaller shares to the two final consortia in the second round, CommuniTel and Two Consortium, and warehoused the remaining share. India’s Tata, through subsidiary Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), later succeeded in taking this up.
While there are competitors to Telkom in the form of the mobile operators, as well as players like Sentech and Wireless Business Solutions on the data side, and the legalisation of voice over IP (VOIP) earlier this year means data providers can also offer voice, there has been no formal fixed line player than can compete at an infrastructure level.
With the business plan finalised and the shareholders agreement signed, the next step is for regulator Icasa to issue the SNO with its formal PSTS (Public Switched Telecommunication Service) license to compete directly with Telkom.
Icasa told Moneyweb previously that as soon as the SNO delivered the necessary documentation to it, the regulator hoped to be able to issue the license within a month, depending on the completeness of the documentation that it receives.
Socikwa says it is not waiting around in the meantime and is already putting a plan together on the way forward. He says it will start with offering wholesale type services to corporates using its already extensive network backbone. But given that it doesn’t have the last-mile infrastructure in place (from the backbone to people’s homes), its consumer offering is still some way away. It would initially have to lease this infrastructure from Telkom and said the timing of its consumer offering would depend on how accommodating it was.
The license will, however, include a fixed-mobile component, and Socikwa confirmed that it would consider using wireless for the last-mile.
The SNO shareholders include VSNL, CommuniTel, Two Consortium, Nexus Connexion, Transnet’s Transtel and Eskom Telecommunications. The 51% share is owned by an entity called SEPCO, of which VSNL has the controlling share, a 26% stake, and CommuniTel and Two Consortium have equal shares of the rest of SEPCO. Transtel and Esi-tel own 30% between them, while Nexus owns 19%.
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=576
An interview with Karl Socikwa from the SNO on the Moneyweb Power Hour.
MONEYWEB: A warm welcome now to Karl Socikwa from the second network operator. Well, if you haven’t been following the story, there is going to be a competitor to Telkom – but when? Karl, just bring us up to date. There has been quite a lot of time that’s elapsed from the initial announcement of a second network operator to today’s decision, where the shareholders’ agreement was finally signed. Now, who are the parties that participating here? KARL SOCIKWA: Alec, good evening. Good evening to your listeners as well. The parties are the current six shareholders in the SNO. That’s Transnet Limited, represented by Transtel, Eskom Holdings, represented by Eskom Enterprises, CommuniTel Telecommunications Proprietary Limited, two telecom consortiums, VSNO, which is part of the Tata group of companies, and Nexus Connection, which is the black empowerment partner in the SNO. So those six shareholders today signed the shareholders’ agreement for the second national operator.
MONEYWEB: Why has it taken so long?
KARL SOCIKWA: You know, this process has really taken far longer than we anticipated right at the beginning. But I think particularly what we’ve come to realise over the last couple of weeks is that we’re putting together a business here for the long haul. It's going to be major infrastructure initiative. We’re going to be deploying quite extensive communications infrastructure throughout the country. It's the country’s second national fixed-line operator. It’s going to be in place – the licence is a 25-year licence, so this is really we’re in it for the long haul.
MONEYWEB: So you had to negotiate in little bits and pieces Karl – was that the reason that held it up?
KARL SOCIKWA: We had to negotiate a business plan, which is now in place, and we had to negotiate a shareholders’ agreement, which is also now in place. We had to talk around issues of how do we integrate the various parties. We’re quite far down the road with that, and we’re also busy now with what needs to be done to launch the business itself.
MONEYWEB: Now, Transtel and Eskom have got their own structures, their own networks, which will give you a flying start in competing with Telkom. But how much more money, how much more investment will be required before you can be a credible competitor?
KARL SOCIKWA: Well, it will go into the billions. I mean, Transtel and Eskom Telecoms, as you rightly indicate are extensive telecommunications networks in and of themselves. Those will become available for the SNO. So the SNO is not an entirely greenfields operation. It does have the Transtel backbone and the Eskom telecoms backbone.
MONEYWEB: And are there any obviously opportunities for you to launch into?
KARL SOCIKWA: Oh yes, of course. We are going to start with the existing Transtel, Eskom Telecoms customer base, but we haven’t been sitting doing nothing. As we’ve been planning the network expansion as well, we have been speaking to some key customers or potential customers out there, to try and ascertain where their expansion requirements would be, so that we plan with that in mind, and that we plan to roll out infrastructure and services into those areas where customers will be requiring services.
MONEYWEB: Now Telkom have got an alliance, a very strong one, with Vodacom. Are you going to be tying up with one of the cellphone companies?
KARL SOCIKWA: The business model that we’re looking at is one of partnership. We don’t want to be all things to all parties. We believe in a partnership type of approach into the market. You know, we believe that gone are the days of vertically integrated business that wants to operate and run in all sectors of the market. Rather, we will concentrate on what is niche for us and partner with those entities that have the other areas of the market as their niche area, and in that way be able to deliver a turnkey solution to our customers.
MONEYWEB: Have you been following the debate and discourse over ADSL?
KARL SOCIKWA: Oh, very closely.
MONEYWEB: Is there opportunity for you?
KARL SOCIKWA: Tremendous opportunity. I think ADSL – you know, it's the first step on the road to true broadband. Not true broadband. ADSL really is about pumping more capacity in existing copper infrastructure, and that copper infrastructure at the moment is under the control of Telkom. There are other forms of broadband-type technology, broadband-type infrastructure, both fixed and wireless, that we are looking at. And this is an area that we believe we are going to pay specific attention to, because through broadband we’ll then be able to deliver things such as fast Internet, video services to residential areas and the like. So we are looking at that closely.
MONEYWEB: Karl, when are you likely to be off the ground?
KARL SOCIKWA: Well, we’ve completed now our part, as was required by the Minister, and we’re submitting the documents to the Minister. The process then from there is going to go to Icasa, and Icasa, who I’m hoping to have an audience with over the next couple of days, will then spell out to us what the process is going to be going forward. We don’t anticipate that should take an unreasonably long period of time. Obviously, as we are going through the motions with Icasa, and the Icasa process will culminate in Icasa then issuing us with a licence, we anticipate that it will take, say, two to four weeks at most. And then, but as that process is ongoing we are busy with all that needs to be done and put in place towards the launch of the business.
MONEYWEB: Karl Socikwa, the spokesperson for the second network operator. So it’s here in months rather than years.
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=575
In a break-through for competition in telecommunications in South Africa, the six shareholders of the second network operator (SNO), have signed their shareholders agreement and say the business launch is about six to nine months away.
Asked if he was relieved to have signed the agreement, SNO consortium head Karl Socikwa, who is also the CEO of shareholder Transtel, said: “That’s an understatement.”
Socikwa said it had taken longer than expected given that there were six different shareholders with different perspectives and give and take was part of the negotiation process. But, they had succeeded in ironing out their differences.
Telkom lost its legal monopoly in May 2002 and the plan was to launch an SNO shortly thereafter. But, two stages of trying to find a strategic shareholder failed, and the Department of Communications eventually gave smaller shares to the two final consortia in the second round, CommuniTel and Two Consortium, and warehoused the remaining share. India’s Tata, through subsidiary Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), later succeeded in taking this up.
While there are competitors to Telkom in the form of the mobile operators, as well as players like Sentech and Wireless Business Solutions on the data side, and the legalisation of voice over IP (VOIP) earlier this year means data providers can also offer voice, there has been no formal fixed line player than can compete at an infrastructure level.
With the business plan finalised and the shareholders agreement signed, the next step is for regulator Icasa to issue the SNO with its formal PSTS (Public Switched Telecommunication Service) license to compete directly with Telkom.
Icasa told Moneyweb previously that as soon as the SNO delivered the necessary documentation to it, the regulator hoped to be able to issue the license within a month, depending on the completeness of the documentation that it receives.
Socikwa says it is not waiting around in the meantime and is already putting a plan together on the way forward. He says it will start with offering wholesale type services to corporates using its already extensive network backbone. But given that it doesn’t have the last-mile infrastructure in place (from the backbone to people’s homes), its consumer offering is still some way away. It would initially have to lease this infrastructure from Telkom and said the timing of its consumer offering would depend on how accommodating it was.
The license will, however, include a fixed-mobile component, and Socikwa confirmed that it would consider using wireless for the last-mile.
The SNO shareholders include VSNL, CommuniTel, Two Consortium, Nexus Connexion, Transnet’s Transtel and Eskom Telecommunications. The 51% share is owned by an entity called SEPCO, of which VSNL has the controlling share, a 26% stake, and CommuniTel and Two Consortium have equal shares of the rest of SEPCO. Transtel and Esi-tel own 30% between them, while Nexus owns 19%.
http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=576
An interview with Karl Socikwa from the SNO on the Moneyweb Power Hour.
MONEYWEB: A warm welcome now to Karl Socikwa from the second network operator. Well, if you haven’t been following the story, there is going to be a competitor to Telkom – but when? Karl, just bring us up to date. There has been quite a lot of time that’s elapsed from the initial announcement of a second network operator to today’s decision, where the shareholders’ agreement was finally signed. Now, who are the parties that participating here? KARL SOCIKWA: Alec, good evening. Good evening to your listeners as well. The parties are the current six shareholders in the SNO. That’s Transnet Limited, represented by Transtel, Eskom Holdings, represented by Eskom Enterprises, CommuniTel Telecommunications Proprietary Limited, two telecom consortiums, VSNO, which is part of the Tata group of companies, and Nexus Connection, which is the black empowerment partner in the SNO. So those six shareholders today signed the shareholders’ agreement for the second national operator.
MONEYWEB: Why has it taken so long?
KARL SOCIKWA: You know, this process has really taken far longer than we anticipated right at the beginning. But I think particularly what we’ve come to realise over the last couple of weeks is that we’re putting together a business here for the long haul. It's going to be major infrastructure initiative. We’re going to be deploying quite extensive communications infrastructure throughout the country. It's the country’s second national fixed-line operator. It’s going to be in place – the licence is a 25-year licence, so this is really we’re in it for the long haul.
MONEYWEB: So you had to negotiate in little bits and pieces Karl – was that the reason that held it up?
KARL SOCIKWA: We had to negotiate a business plan, which is now in place, and we had to negotiate a shareholders’ agreement, which is also now in place. We had to talk around issues of how do we integrate the various parties. We’re quite far down the road with that, and we’re also busy now with what needs to be done to launch the business itself.
MONEYWEB: Now, Transtel and Eskom have got their own structures, their own networks, which will give you a flying start in competing with Telkom. But how much more money, how much more investment will be required before you can be a credible competitor?
KARL SOCIKWA: Well, it will go into the billions. I mean, Transtel and Eskom Telecoms, as you rightly indicate are extensive telecommunications networks in and of themselves. Those will become available for the SNO. So the SNO is not an entirely greenfields operation. It does have the Transtel backbone and the Eskom telecoms backbone.
MONEYWEB: And are there any obviously opportunities for you to launch into?
KARL SOCIKWA: Oh yes, of course. We are going to start with the existing Transtel, Eskom Telecoms customer base, but we haven’t been sitting doing nothing. As we’ve been planning the network expansion as well, we have been speaking to some key customers or potential customers out there, to try and ascertain where their expansion requirements would be, so that we plan with that in mind, and that we plan to roll out infrastructure and services into those areas where customers will be requiring services.
MONEYWEB: Now Telkom have got an alliance, a very strong one, with Vodacom. Are you going to be tying up with one of the cellphone companies?
KARL SOCIKWA: The business model that we’re looking at is one of partnership. We don’t want to be all things to all parties. We believe in a partnership type of approach into the market. You know, we believe that gone are the days of vertically integrated business that wants to operate and run in all sectors of the market. Rather, we will concentrate on what is niche for us and partner with those entities that have the other areas of the market as their niche area, and in that way be able to deliver a turnkey solution to our customers.
MONEYWEB: Have you been following the debate and discourse over ADSL?
KARL SOCIKWA: Oh, very closely.
MONEYWEB: Is there opportunity for you?
KARL SOCIKWA: Tremendous opportunity. I think ADSL – you know, it's the first step on the road to true broadband. Not true broadband. ADSL really is about pumping more capacity in existing copper infrastructure, and that copper infrastructure at the moment is under the control of Telkom. There are other forms of broadband-type technology, broadband-type infrastructure, both fixed and wireless, that we are looking at. And this is an area that we believe we are going to pay specific attention to, because through broadband we’ll then be able to deliver things such as fast Internet, video services to residential areas and the like. So we are looking at that closely.
MONEYWEB: Karl, when are you likely to be off the ground?
KARL SOCIKWA: Well, we’ve completed now our part, as was required by the Minister, and we’re submitting the documents to the Minister. The process then from there is going to go to Icasa, and Icasa, who I’m hoping to have an audience with over the next couple of days, will then spell out to us what the process is going to be going forward. We don’t anticipate that should take an unreasonably long period of time. Obviously, as we are going through the motions with Icasa, and the Icasa process will culminate in Icasa then issuing us with a licence, we anticipate that it will take, say, two to four weeks at most. And then, but as that process is ongoing we are busy with all that needs to be done and put in place towards the launch of the business.
MONEYWEB: Karl Socikwa, the spokesperson for the second network operator. So it’s here in months rather than years.