South African internet service provider (ISP) Neotel has recorded its first operating profit, with its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increasing 530 per cent in 2013.
Sunil Joshi, Neotel chief executive officer (CEO), said revenue had grown 12 per cent year on year, with the firm having spent more than ZAR5 billion (US$510 million) on infrastructure during its seven years in existence.
Joshi said: “In the period under review we invested more than ZAR500 million in capital expenditure, and now have access to over 15,000km of national long distance fibre and approximately 8,000km of fibre in major metros.”
In a sign of more progress for the company, Joshi also announced its long term evolution (LTE) commercial services would be launched in September this year.
Having already undertaken a successful trial, Neotel will begin by offering its commercial services in a small area of Gauteng using 50 base stations.
There are already 3,000 business clients and 152,000 customers using Neotel’s services.
Joshi added: “It is no longer a trial, we should be up and running in the second half of the second quarter.”
Another ZAR500 million in capital expenditure is expected to be invested in the network in the coming year.
