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Neotel Hits Profitability Milestone | Itweb 7/15/2015 Neotel hits profitability milestone | ITWeb INTERNET DISCONNECT FREE NEWSLETTERS IT DIRECTORY NEWS ALERTS RSS NEWS TIP­OFFS ADD TO FAVOURITES SECTION CO­SPONSOR TELECOMS SPONSOR HOME OPINION IN DEPTH SURVEYS JOBS SERVICES EVENTS PUBLICATIONS ABOUT SOFTWARE AG ­ By sector BUSINESS CHANNEL COMPUTING ENTERPRISE FINANCIAL HARDWARE INTERNET NETWORKING SECURITY SOFTWARE TELECOMS VIRTUAL PRESS OFFICES™ COMPANY ZONES Advertise on ITWeb Wed, 15 Jul, 14:58:04 PM You are here Home Telecoms COMMENT Neotel hits profitability milestone ON THIS SEND TO A FRIEND By Bonnie Tubbs, ITWeb telecoms editor. Johannesburg, 29 May 2013 QUICK PRINT FOLLOW US Neotel, SA’s second national fixed­line operator, has ON TWITTER reported positive operating income for the year to FOLLOW US March, hitting one of the milestones on way to ON LINKEDIN profitability, for the first time since launch six years ago. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK The operator this afternoon said it had turned positive on an earnings before interest and tax basis and was SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER now aiming to be positive on a pre­tax basis by year­ end. Neotel recorded revenue growth of 12% for the year to March, while earnings before interest, tax, Neotel CEO Sunil Joshi says the company seeks depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased CAPTURE to become a real choice for customers ­ not just a 531% over the same period. Looking for a comprehensive viable alternative. range of tailor made document scanning and Neotel CEO Sunil Joshi says the company, which has retrieval solutions? been EBITDA positive for the past seven quarters, now aims to focus on becoming profitable before tax (PBT). “We set ourselves a target of turning EBIT positive, and we thumped that target – now we want to go PBT positive – an aim we anticipate to achieve by the end of the year,” says CFO Steven Whiley. TELECOMMUNICATIONS Are you ready to find your freedom? Break free with Joshi notes, amid what he says is a competitive environment fraught with uncertainty, Neotel has Mitel managed to surpass the industry growth rate. “Neotel continues to capture market share. While the fixed­line telecommunications market in SA is projected to grow at 1.4% per annum until 2018, Neotel is growing at more than eight times this rate.” PROJECTED TPG Africa is the leading project, programme and project portfolio management Neotel’s core customer base – the enterprise sector – is up 29% year­on­year, reports the company. solutions provider in Africa This, says Whiley is driven by underlying revenue growth of 44% in managed services, and 24% in network services. The company’s Internet connectivity services from its two See also flagship products – NeoInternet Neotel comes of age Neotel gains on Telkom and NeoBroadband – have seen more than 75% Rrecvoemnmueended for you Neotel growth, while voice services revenue grew 24%. NSeAo ftleulnks in mathsS, uscnieiln Jcoeshi reported a 52% increase in what it classifies as itstr caoinninsugmer customers, comprised of small enterprise and retail. “We now have 3 000 business customers, and 152 000 consumer customers,” says Joshi. Network build He says, over the past year, Neotel has injected over R500m in capital expenditure, primarily to bolster Broadlink is a its national network. 80% of the spend was allocated the company’s network and network infrastructure, telecommunications company, http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64468:Neotel­hits­profitability­milestone 1/3 7/15/2015 Neotel hits profitability milestone | ITWeb while 20% went to IT, “largely to drive automation and integration of applications”. providing high­speed connectivity infrastructure to South African businesses and ISPs. Serious bandwidth. For serious business. Neotel reports that it now has access to over 15 000 km of national long distance fibre, and 8 000 km of fibre in major metros – all owned and operated by the company. “This domestic fibre network is connected to all five undersea cables that land on South African shores, linking the major hubs within the country to each other as well as to global markets, both emerging and developed.” AFRICA Job losses are unavoidable says MTN SA's new CEO Also during its 2013 financial year, says Joshi, Neotel completed phase 1 and 2 of its national long­ New CEO for Helios Towers Africa distance (NLD) fibre routes. Neotel’s phase 1 and 2 NLD links extend from Johannesburg to Durban. Safaricom, Standard Chartered unite to empower The company aims to complete phase 3 and 4 (extending to Cape Town) by the end of this year. merchants Alcatel –Lucent speeds up submarine networks Meanwhile, Neotel’s long­term evolution (LTE) trials, which have been running since October last year, Nigeria's telcos winning in numbers game have come to an end and the company plans to launch commercial LTE services within the next three months – after garnering customer feedback. The next­generation technology will initially cover only Gauteng, via 50 LTE­enabled base stations, using the 1 800 MHz band. Joshi says, however, Neotel’s overall LTE plan is “extensive” and that the company would continue to drive the technology through services and devices in coming months. “We are currently implementing [LTE] infrastructure in phase 0 and it should be up and running around the middle of Neotel’s second quarter. We will share more details at the time of launch.” Data Centres: The Next Frontier 2015 Venue: The Forum, Bryanston Enjoyed this story? Subscribe to ITWeb's Telecoms newsletter. Conference 21 July Workshop 22 July Strategic insights on a successful outsourced data centre Abdul Baba, CIO, SkyNet Find out how proactive monitoring and management of their hosted IT infrastructure, Subscribe to our Subscribe to Download our newsletter Brainstorm mobile apps allowed SkyNet to increase customer satisfaction, all while staying focused on their core business areas. Secure your team's attendance today! Diamond sponsor Our comments policy does not allow anonymous postings. Read the policy here Platinum sponsor 0 Comments ITWeb 1 Login Recommend ⤤ Share Sort by Newest PUBLICATIONS SA's success story Start the discussion… The Striata siblings Click here to get your 3 FREE trial issues! Be the first to comment. ALSO ON ITWEB WHAT'S THIS? 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BEST READ TELECOMS RELATED ARTICLES MTN CEO: 'we don't buy it' Vodacom, Neotel conditions 'not enough' MTN CEO has quit, says source Vodacom­Neotel deal may spark copycats MTN CEO was 'arrogant', says union Just do it FTTH expands to more Joburg suburbs ICASA mum on R7bn Neotel buyout COMPANY NEWS BUSINESS HARDWARE CHANNEL WHITE PAPER Kyocera HQ appoints Tyco answers small Ruckus Wireless awards executive VP business surveillance three6five needs Govt addresses pay discrimination TECHFORUM NETWORKING SECURITY Translate SME talk into Building the foundations action HP PageWide of a connected Africa Technology A certificate in cyber How lekker is local? security MTN COMPANY ZONE Reasons to take small ATIO introduces Ixia business into cloud BreakingPoint Indirect channel builds on IOT capabilities OPINION IN CROWD Contact us Advertise Newsletters Terms of use Privacy policy [email protected] Twitter Facebook Google+ LinkedIn YouTube PlayStore Google Play iTunes RSS Copyright (c) 1996 ­ 2015 ITWeb Limited. 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