Converged communications network operator Neotel is preparing to start launching commercial long-term evolu- tion (LTE) services by July to September this year.

Neotel MD and CEO Sunil Joshi said last week that the technology would initially be concentrated within the Gauteng region, serving customers through 50 LTE-enabled base stations.

The group, which started its LTE trials last year, planned to obtain customer feedback before expanding the technology as required.

“We need to learn and make informed decisions on the future investment in LTE,” he com- mented, adding that LTE would complement WiMAX Microwave in providing customers with data services.

The group injected about R500-million in capital expenditure during the year to March 2013, expanding its fibre network to 15 000 km of national long- distance links and 8 000 km of metropolitan fibre, and linking the network to all five undersea cables currently connecting South Africa to the world.

During the 2013 financial year, Neotel completed its Phase 1 and 2 national long-distance links from Johannesburg to Durban. Phase 3 and 4, stretching to Cape Town, would be completed by the end of the calendar year, further boosting Neotel’s R5-billion infrastructure network.

The Tata Communications subsidiary also reported holding 14 fibre-to-the-curb area networks passing 4 200 companies in major cities.

During the year under review, the 1 000-employee-strong Neotel posted a 12% rise in revenue, reaching in excess of R3-billion, while achieving – for the first time – positive earnings before interest and taxes for the full year.

This followed the company’s 531% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, which turned posi- tive for the first time in the second quarter of 2012, said CFO Steven Whiley.

Despite remaining in the red, profit before tax was up 61% for the year, and was expected to turn positive by the fourth quarter of the year, he added.

The six-year-old company’s consumer customer base grew by 52%, from 100 000 to 152 000 during the 2013 financial year, while it added 29% more business customers, reaching 3 000, from the 2 400 reported a year ago.

Further, while the R43-billion fixed-line telecommunications market in South Africa was projected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 1.4% until 2018, Neotel reported a current growth rate almost eight times the industry rate.

Meanwhile, the company planned to launch its third and fourth public telepresence rooms in Pretoria and Durban by the end of June, connecting to the public telepresence room in Neotel’s Midrand campus, as well as 45 other public telepresence rooms around the world.

This followed the October launch of the company’s second public telepresence room at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

The rooms offered a high-definition virtual video and audio substitute for face-to-face meetings, cut the cost of travelling to the cities for brief business meetings and enabled quicker decision-making.