Neotel on track with LTE
While Neotel says it is on track to launch the commercial service of its Long Term Evolution (LTE) in September, a commercially viable fibre to the home solution remains a challenge.
The group said in November that it had begun trialling its LTE service at its campus in Midrand, achieving speeds in the region of 70Mbps.
In May, Neotel CEO, Sunil Joshi said that the company expected to launch its LTE service commercially in September.
The company chief said that Neotel would start its commercial offering in a concentrated area in Gauteng, using 50 base stations on the 1800MHz frequency.
Neotel says it serves in excess of 3,000 business clients and 152,000 consumers having trenched 8,000 kilometres of its own metro fibre since inception.
Abid Qadiri, chief of business solutions and excellence at Neotel told BusinessTech on Wednesday (7 August): “Neotel remains on track to release commercial LTE services in the third quarter of 2013 and continues to provide the best broadband services in the country across all segments, with the appropriate price and performance, using different access technologies.”
Market rumour has Vodacom currently performing due diligence on Neotel following successful acquisition discussions between the companies.
On the possibility of fibre to the home in the near future, Qadiri said: “Neotel is uniquely placed to make fibre to the home feasible as it leverages its investments in metro and long distance networks, however, it is difficult to put a specific timeline on deployment at this time.”
More on Neotel
Vodacom closer to Neotel purchase: sources
Neotel to launch LTE in September
Vodacom tight-lipped over Neotel rumour
Loading ...