{"id":43877,"date":"2013-08-08T11:50:26","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T09:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=43877"},"modified":"2013-08-08T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2013-08-08T10:35:38","slug":"infraco-hit-by-massive-earnings-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/broadband\/43877\/infraco-hit-by-massive-earnings-drop\/","title":{"rendered":"Infraco hit by massive earnings drop"},"content":{"rendered":"

State-owned broadband infrastructure operator,\u00a0Broadband Infraco<\/a>\u00a0has reported a 40% decline in revenue for the financial year ended March 2013, to R237.4 million, citing shrinking volumes of business from Neotel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group extended its operating loss to R181.1 million, from R95 million before, but noted that it invested R155 million during the course of the year.<\/p>\n

The company said it generated a positive cash flow of R10.2 million, and achieved an unqualified audit, with poor governance having haunting the company in the past.<\/p>\n

Cost of sales decreased by 37% to R172.2 million, Infraco said, but capital projects of R109 million were capitalised.<\/p>\n

Despite a loss of business from Neotel, the group said it has added to its customer base.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the group reported a 32% rise in revenue to R393.6 million, and generated\u00a0R52 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.<\/p>\n

The company has a mandate to bridge the digital divide and to roll-out “broadband for all” in terms of universal access.<\/p>\n

Broadband Infraco said it already has an extensive network of 12,800 km of fibre, 151 customer termination points, traversing all nine provinces, in most major cities and towns.<\/p>\n

The group said that 75% of the targets contained within its Shareholder Compact were met or exceeded.<\/p>\n

It said that seven access points were established to enable third parties to connect to its network.<\/p>\n

The group said employment costs increased 8% as it filled critical skilled positions, and appointed more experienced technical staff.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Broadband Infraco said it will work with its shareholders the Department of Public Enterprises & the Industrial Development Corporation to provide inputs to the (draft) National Broadband Policy.<\/p>\n

This policy, it said, will clarify the roles of the government, other ICT SOCs and the private sector in developing world-class broadband infrastructure in the country collaboratively.<\/p>\n

\u201cBroadband Infraco has taken a multi-year view in planning for the rollout of its capital expenditure programme, to ensure commercial sustainability of the company as well as to meet the socio-economic objectives of government,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The company said it will pursue various funding models. Funding will also be sourced commercially as well as Private Public Partnerships including co-build projects.<\/p>\n

Broadband Infraco\u00a0CEO,\u00a0Puleng\u00a0Kwele<\/a>\u00a0recently estimated that the South African government will need to set aside as much as R100 billion in order to meet its targets for broadband coverage.<\/p>\n

Kwele was also outspoken on the funding requirements needed by the group, noting that in the five years of its existence, Broadband Infraco had only received a total of R1.8 billion from government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts not sufficient to do the work we are required to do\u2026R1.8 billion is nothing, it\u2019s a drop in the ocean in this industry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody should tell me that government shouldn\u2019t invest. I don\u2019t buy the idea that fiscus is really tight,\u201d Kwele said.<\/p>\n

\"Puleng<\/a>

Puleng Kwele<\/p><\/div>\n

More on Broadband Infraco<\/h3>\n

No signs of profit at Broadband Infraco<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

R100 billion needed for SA broadband: Infraco<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

CFO not suspended: Broadband Infraco<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Broadband Infraco lifts revenue by 32%<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Broadband Infraco appoints new CEO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Broadband Infraco to address cash position<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Broadband Infraco has reported a 40% decline in revenue for the financial year, citing shrinking volumes of business from Neotel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5553],"tags":[1876,26,6463,261,5863],"class_list":["post-43877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadband","tag-broadband-infraco","tag-headline","tag-national-broadband-policy","tag-neotel","tag-puleng-kwele"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43877"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43901,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43877\/revisions\/43901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}