Ten-year-old converged communications network operator Neotel is confident of the company’s further growth in the next decade as it awaits the conclusion of its buyout by privately-owned Pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom.

The R6.5-billion acquisition by a shareholder with a similar vision as Neotel will enable the network operator to maintain its innovative position and open opportunities to grow, said Neotel head of data centres and managed services Angus Hay.

The transaction is expected to be concluded in the first quarter of next year, following the resolution of certain regulatory processes.

This had followed telecommunications giant Vodacom’s abandonment in March of its years-long, R7-billion bid for the converged operator, after regulatory complexities and the failure to fulfill certain conditions led to the restructured proposal’s lapse.

In June, Liquid, along with South African empowerment investment group Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), made a R6.55-billion offer to acquire Neotel from parent company Tata Communications and other minority shareholders.

The parties had, at the time, described the transaction as “transformative”, saying it would create the largest Pan-African broadband network and business-to-business telecoms provider.

Through a single access point, businesses across Africa will be able to access Liquid Africa’s 24 000 km of cross-border, metro and access fibre networks. These currently span 12 countries from South Africa to Kenya, with further expansions planned.

This adds to the progress Neotel has made since its inception in 2006, with many first milestones achieved in South Africa to disrupt the market.

“Neotel is not going to lose that innovation” Hay said.

Neotel has been steadily building itself into a “major carrier” in South Africa, with an extensive metro and national long-distance next-generation network, powered by a high-performance fibre-optic core with availability exceeding 99.99% and access to five submarine cables.

“The next ten years are going to be great. The future is going to be bright,” Hay said, adding the trends point to exponential growth, which would require full leveraging of current infrastructure and the deployment of new infrastructure.