Tatas get nod for S Africa telecom foray

The Tata group has received approval from South Africa's Strategic Equity Partner Company (SepCo) for the roll-out of a telecom firm, Second National Operator (SNO).

SepCo is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which was set up for the roll-out of SNO. The approval provides the Tata group's telecom arm Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) an access to the South African market which is so far dominated by the monopoly player, Telekom.

VSNL would be operating through Tata Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd, the investment arm of the Tata group in South Africa. Tata Africa has operations in eight African countries.

The partners of SNO has signed the agreement on August 15, pursuant to the issuance of a public switched elecommunication service (PSTS) licence by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

The partners include Eskom Enterprises, Transtel, Nexus Connexion, CommuniTel and two consortiums, a VSNL release said.

The Tata group expects to launch commercial operations within six to nine months and would offer a range of services, including voice, data and limited-mobility access.

Earlier in February, the minister of communications of South Africa had completed the selection of shareholders for the SNO and announced the Tata group as the controlling stakeholder in Sepco.