Neotel has gained access to the Sat-3 landing station and can now offer competitively-priced international services that are not carried over Telkom's national network at any point.

“Access to the landing station means that Neotel can now carry traffic from Johannesburg to London on its own network,” said Angus Hay, Neotel’s chief technology officer. According to Mr Hay, customers using NeoLink Global, the flexible international leased line service that includes global ethernet as an option, will receive an end-to-end service that makes exclusive use of Neotel's network for connectivity within South Africa.

Neotel has deployed its own equipment at the Melkbosstrand and Mtunzini landing stations of the Sat-3 / Safe undersea cable system, connected directly over its own high-availability optical fibre routes into its national network. Neotel obtains international capacity on Sat-3 (routes to the west) and Safe (routes to the east) at competitive rates, and is able to pass the cost benefits on to customers of services that depend on these routes.

Neotel will also able to offer long-term capacity on Seacom, which will be available from June 2009, linking South Africa to Europe along the east coast of Africa.

“For the first time, users of international leased line telecommunications services out of South Africa have a real choice of carrier, rather than just of re-seller, enabling them to switch to their preferred provider, or simply to implement redundancy to reduce their business risk,” Hay said.