SNO near yet so far?

Neotel, the much anticipated SNO (Second National Operator to Telkom), promises to "introduce a variety of voice and data services (including high speed internet and broadband) for consumers in South Africa, with the first of these services targeted for availability on a trial basis around mid 2007".

Forgive my skepticism but since my return to South Africa in early 2004, the launch of the SNO has continuously been just 6 months away and here we are in April 2007 and still nothing of real substance has happened yet. So I will believe this when I see it.

However as most of us know South Africa is in dire need of a rival to Telkom's monopoly so that telecom costs can become more competitive. In fact telecom costs are probably one of the biggest obstacles faced by many SMEs. At least telecom prices are starting to fall in anticipation of the SNO. As for dealing with Telkom's Call Centre, ..........mmmm well let's just say with a few unexpected exceptions, banging one's head against a wall is a far more pleasurable experience.

I am also concerned that Telkom's infrastructure is starting to "creak" incessantly as more consumers/businesses start to make use of broadband - in fact we could start facing "inconvenient adsl outages" similar to the power outages experienced lately, thanks to Eskom’s capacity problems. Hope I’m wrong but this is my “gut feeling” after a seemingly increase in "slow and problematic" internet access, experienced over the last few months.