Tata Group's Neotel plans to triple revenue
24 Sep 2009
South African communications network operator, Neotel said yesterday that the company aims to triple its FY10 revenue to around 3 billion rand ($400 million), targeting a customer base of 50,000.
Neotel, run by India's Tata Communications with 56 per cent stake, was established in 2006 (See: Tata Communications becomes controlling shareholder in Neotel).
The idea was to compete with the monopoly, Telkom SA Ltd, now a 39 per cent state owned, semi-privatised company, previously controlled by the US telecom giant SBC Communications (now AT&T).
The operator's revenue so far has crossed 2.2 billion rand ($295 million) in the current year, which is double the last year's figure and the company targets over $400 million revenue by the end of March, with a customer base of 50,000 from the current level of 30,000.
Neotel managing director and chief executive officer, Ajay Pandey said in a press conference: ''What is important is that this milestone in terms of numbers signifies growth. Essentially we are becoming now a player of significance in more than one way."
The company invested over 3.5 billion rand ($470 million) in telecom infrastructure so far, laying fibre optic cables, wireless networks using WiMax and CDMA technologies. The telecom operator aims to grab 15 per cent of market share in its five years of operation.
