Broadband Infraco lifts revenue by 32%
State owned broadband infrastructure operator, Broadband Infraco on Friday (3 August), reported a 32% rise in revenue for the financial period ended March 2012, to R393.6 million, from R297.6 million before.
The group said that it generated R52 million from operating activities, although it announced a loss for the year of R95 million, from a loss of R206 million in 2011, and R40 million in 2010.
It highlighted a 67% improvement in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (ebitda), although that reflected a loss of R27 million, from a prior loss of R81 million.
Broadband Infraco said its customer base has grown over the period, from contracts with Neotel, Liquid Telecommunications, and MTN in the previous year to now also include a R100 million worth of new short term lease or indefeasible right of use (IRU) contracts with SALT/KAT (via Neotel), Seacom, Vodacom, Internet Technologies (Namibia), and Business Connexion.
Public Enterprises minister, Malusi Gigaba said: “I am pleased with overall performance of the company… I am confident that the company has turned the corner,” he said referring to previous poor governance that plagued the company in the past.
Broadband Infraco said it received an unqualified audit for the financial period.
The minister said he had spoken with government regarding an alignment with state owned signal distributor, Sentech, and Telkom, which is also close to 50% owned by government. “There is no finality as to what form that alignment would take,” he said, adding that government was committed to structuring that alignment.
He cautioned that government did not want to spread itself too thin, with the aim of reaching 100% broadband access in South Africa, by 2020.
CEO Puleng Sejanamane said: “We believe that Broadband Infraco remains a strategic vehicle for injecting efficiencies into national broadband needs of the country and we remain ready to assist both government, as well as the private sector, in terms of providing backbone infrastructure and high capacity connectivity.”
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