Drag on Vodacom deal ‘frustrating’, says Neotel acting CEO

Converged network operator Neotel acting CEO Kennedy Memani on Wednesday expressed his frustration at the protracted process in having a R7-billion tie-up between the nine-year-old operator and JSE-listed telecommunications giant Vodacom concluded. Speaking at the yearly My Broadband Conference, in Midrand, he said the deal, filed in 2014, had taken more than a year to be finalised, leaving Neotel employees and management uncertain over the company’s future, as India-based parent Tata Communication sought to offload the capital intensive business.